Pets ‘could need vaccines months before crossing into the south’
PET owners in the North could be forced to get their animals vaccinated up to four months before they travel south of the border in the wake of a no-deal Brexit.
Dog and cat owners are being advised to speak to a vet as soon as possible if they want to take their pet on holiday after March next year.
British government officials have issued the advice on the basis of a no-deal scenario. If British prime minister Theresa May and EU officials fail to reach an agreement by next March, animals travelling to the EU will need rabies vaccinations and a blood sample taken 30 days prior to arrival – a process that will take three months.
The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Development in Northern Ireland also issued advice on its website.
A spokesman for the department said: ‘We would urge all pet owners who wish to travel immediately after March 29, 2019 to consult with their vet as soon as they can.
But the owner of a doggy day care centre on the border has expressed dismay at the prospect of vaccinations , pet passports and delays.
Eimear Matthews, of Paws & Play in Newry, Co. Down, said the fields at the back of her house where her own dog runs straddles the border.
‘I already have dogs who come up with their owners who maybe live in the south and work in the North and leave their dogs off with me – those dogs are now going to require rabies injections, pet passports, might have to go into quarantine. At this stage we honestly don’t even know what way it’s going to be.
‘I myself live a couple of hundred yards from the border, so theoretically for my dog to go running in my own fields, she’s going to need a passport.’