peter hayes
Thursday 10th April 2003, 19:38
FERRETS FINALLY GET THEIR PASSPORTS
European MPs today voted to give ferrets their own passports, and the same
right to roam across Europe enjoyed by cats and dogs.
Liberal Democrat MEP Nick Clegg says the decision is good news for
Britain's two million pet ferrets.
The EU regulation on the movement of pet animals across Europe will come
into force in spring next year, and has a serious purpose. It aims to
remove restrictions while ensuring that strong safeguards remain against
the threat of rabies.
Brussels officials have decided to build on current British practice by
replacing six months quarantine controls with 'pets passports', in fact
microchips which indicate that the animal has been vaccinated and carries
no rabies.
New vaccines have allowed huge progress to be made in the fight against
the killer disease. During the last decade the number of rabies cases of
amongst cats and dogs recorded annually across the EU fell from nearly 500
to just five.
MEPs voted two years ago against extending the scheme to include ferrets
because there was no test which could prove that the vaccination had
worked and that the animal is rabies free.
Ferret fanatics, organised in protest by the magazine Ferret World and the
Ferret Trust, claimed that it would mean that their pets would face unfair
discrimination even though there was no evidence of rabies being
transmitted by ferrets.
Now an assessment carried out by the Veterinary Laboratory Agency has
concluded that the risks are so small as no longer to justify continued
restrictions.
Nick Clegg said that it had been right to give priority to maintaining
strict controls against the spread of rabies, but he was glad that these
could now be removed.
ENDS
European MPs today voted to give ferrets their own passports, and the same
right to roam across Europe enjoyed by cats and dogs.
Liberal Democrat MEP Nick Clegg says the decision is good news for
Britain's two million pet ferrets.
The EU regulation on the movement of pet animals across Europe will come
into force in spring next year, and has a serious purpose. It aims to
remove restrictions while ensuring that strong safeguards remain against
the threat of rabies.
Brussels officials have decided to build on current British practice by
replacing six months quarantine controls with 'pets passports', in fact
microchips which indicate that the animal has been vaccinated and carries
no rabies.
New vaccines have allowed huge progress to be made in the fight against
the killer disease. During the last decade the number of rabies cases of
amongst cats and dogs recorded annually across the EU fell from nearly 500
to just five.
MEPs voted two years ago against extending the scheme to include ferrets
because there was no test which could prove that the vaccination had
worked and that the animal is rabies free.
Ferret fanatics, organised in protest by the magazine Ferret World and the
Ferret Trust, claimed that it would mean that their pets would face unfair
discrimination even though there was no evidence of rabies being
transmitted by ferrets.
Now an assessment carried out by the Veterinary Laboratory Agency has
concluded that the risks are so small as no longer to justify continued
restrictions.
Nick Clegg said that it had been right to give priority to maintaining
strict controls against the spread of rabies, but he was glad that these
could now be removed.
ENDS