The more we learn about new CDC dog importation regulations, the more alarmed everyone's becoming.
In recent news, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a new regulation for ALL dogs entering the U.S. whether arriving by land, air, or sea.
Once it goes into effect on August 1, the new regulations will impact each of the 1 million or so dogs that enter the country every year, including those of Americans who were visiting abroad, tourists, rescues, military personnel, and even those returning with their service dogs.
Regardless of where one’s travel originated, the new regulations will apply, though there are three main categories: 1) Dogs that have been vaccinated in the U.S., 2) Dogs that have been vaccinated in a low-risk or rabies-free country, and 3) Dogs that have been vaccinated in a high-risk country.
The new CDC policy adopts language from H.R.6921, “The Healthy Dog Importation Act”, a bill written to combat unethical international puppy mills bringing dogs into the U.S. In that bill, they changed the definition in the Animal Welfare Act of ‘importer’ from “any person who, for purposes of resale, transports into the United States puppies from a foreign country” to “any person who transports or causes the transportation of a dog into the United States from a foreign country.”
The CDC adopted this new definition of “importer” and enacted the new regulations through its regulatory authority rather than a congressional vote. Regulatory agencies, such as the CDC, sadly, have the power to issue rules and regulations at their discretion. The CDC’s policy change was implemented independently of the legislative process. (The Healthy Dog Importation Act, on the other hand, is a proposed bill in Congress that has not yet been voted on)
This new regulation took many by surprise, including APHIS/USDA-trained vets. It was rushed through as though there’s an introduced rabies public health crisis, but this is not true; there have been only four cases of introduction by dogs since 2015 and those were from high-rabies countries. In 2019, Mexico became the first country in the world to receive validation from the World Health Organization (WHO) for eliminating dog-transmitted rabies as a public health problem.
Changing the definition of 'importer' to include all persons entering the U.S. with dogs from any other country, and considering the status of Mexico being "canine transmitted rabies-free", this is an incredible overreach concerning pets and rescues crossing the border from Mexico.
As Sandy Stambaugh Motter from (Los Cabos) Casa Sheila (and co-founder of Spaying for Change) said: “The new CDC guidelines are going to crush rescue, seriously crush it, I didn’t sleep last night trying to figure things out.”
To read the full article, go to: https://mulegeanimalrescue.com.mx/blog/
