The US government has made the controversial decision to impose new requirements on dogs entering the US following a “dramatic increase” in false documentation and fraud, including cases of people using Canada to bring dogs into the US from countries with high rabies rates.
The lengthy notice from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), obtained by CBC News, sheds new light on a decision that surprised the Canadian government, Canadian veterinarians, dog owners and federal Health Minister Mark Holland in May.
The notice also raises questions about whether Canadian authorities are doing enough to prevent dogs from countries where rabies is prevalent from entering the country.
Dr. Tim Arthur, president of the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association, said the issues the U.S. is trying to address with the new rules could have implications for Canada.
“I think it would be very beneficial for Canada to severely restrict the entry of dogs from countries where canine variant rabies is occurring,” he said.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency announced that new measures banning the commercial importation of dogs into Canada from countries with high rabies rates have been implemented in 2022. The agency said it “continues to evaluate options to further strengthen Canada’s dog import requirements.”
At the center of the controversy are new requirements that took effect Aug. 1 for people bringing dogs into the U.S., and for Americans returning to the country with dogs.
After negotiations between Canada and the United States and a visit by the Netherlands to Washington, the United States agreed to a nine-month grace period for countries with low rabies rates, such as Canada. Dogs eligible for the grace period must be at least six months old, microchipped, and have spent the past six months in a country with a low rabies rate. Owners must also fill out an application. The CDC simplified other requirements during the grace period.
New rules planned for at least a year
According to a notice published on a U.S. government website on May 13, the new rules have been under consideration for at least a year, and the consultation period received 2,106 comments, including from animal protection groups that garnered 118,312 signatures.
In its notice, the CDC said there is an increased risk of rabies being reintroduced into the United States, primarily due to the importation of dogs from other countries for commercial purposes and by international animal protection groups.
The department said there has also been a “dramatic increase” in people falsifying paperwork attached to some of these dogs.
Health Minister Mark Holland says it’s a “good idea” to make sure your pet is up to date on vaccinations. Holland added that “mistakes happen,” but in the short term, the Canadian government worked with the US government to ensure Canadians were treated fairly.
“In 2020, CDC observed a 52 percent increase in the number of dogs disqualified for admission due to false or fraudulent documentation compared to 2018 and 2019,” the CDC notice states.
According to the CDC, some people claim the dogs are theirs.
“Each year, CDC documents numerous importations in which air-borne parents transport dogs that do not meet CDC entry requirements for the purpose of resale, adoption, or transfer of ownership,” the agency wrote.
“Owners on these flights often claim the dogs are their own pets in order to avoid potential duties and fees due to USDA animal welfare entry requirements and CBP regulations. Even if well-intentioned, these importers endanger public health because they are often unaware of the histories of the animals they transport.”
According to the notice, in some cases importers have turned to Canada to bring dogs into the United States from countries with high levels of canine rabies virus variant (DMRVV) infection.
“HHS/CDC has documented numerous instances where young dogs (<6 months of age) have been transported from DMRVV high-risk countries through DMRVV-free countries, such as Canada and Mexico, to circumvent U.S. entry requirements," the notice states.
The notice details four cases in which animal welfare groups have brought rabies-infected dogs into the U.S. since 2015: three from Egypt and one from Azerbaijan. An investigation revealed that the documents for the dog imported from Egypt were falsified.
The notice noted that two rabies-infected dogs were imported from Iran to Canada in July 2021 and January 2022, which coincided with the United States suspending the importation of dogs from countries with high rabies rates.
Criminal dog trafficking
The notice also cites a Canadian study conducted in 2021-2022 that found that testing found that nearly half of rescue dogs brought into Canada with up-to-date rabies vaccination certificates had no detectable rabies antibody titers that would indicate they had actually been vaccinated.
According to the notice, international animal protection groups are not the only ones bringing dogs into the United States.
“There is growing evidence that criminal organizations are becoming involved in the lucrative dog trade, and there have been reported increases in the illegal puppy trade during the pandemic,” the CDC wrote.
The CDC estimates that when a rabies-infected dog is detected, it costs an average of $270,000 to investigate and vaccinate people who have come into contact with the dog.
While human deaths from rabies are rare in the United States and usually occur after contact with wild animals, the CDC estimates that 59,000 people die from rabies each year worldwide, many of them children.
The CDC acknowledges that it doesn’t know the exact number of dogs coming into the United States from other countries, but estimates that 1 million dogs are brought into the country each year, 100,000 of which come from countries with high rabies rates.
The CDC notice also outlined some of the measures it has put in place, including requiring dogs to be microchipped.
“CDC has documented several cases of importers attempting to import unvaccinated dogs into the United States undetected and presenting vaccinated dogs’ records as vaccination records for dogs without proper veterinary documentation,” the agency said.
“At the time, microchipping was not required for entry into the United States, and the dogs in question were not microchipped, so the public health investigation to confirm the identities of these dogs involved significant resources and difficulties.”
Vaccine skepticism
The notice said the new rules are also necessary because of gaps in rabies vaccinations among U.S. dogs.
“Researchers recently found that 53 percent of the U.S. population is dog vaccination hesitant, defined as ‘dog owners being skeptical about the safety and effectiveness of routinely vaccinating their dogs,'” the report states.
Arthur said his team was surprised by the CDC’s announcement and feels left out of the loop. As discussions between Canada and the U.S. continue, he encourages veterinarians from both countries to be represented at the meetings.
Arthur also urges Canada to tighten its own rules. He said importing dogs from overseas has become so profitable that while commercial dog imports are banned, individuals can bring dogs into Canada from countries with high rabies rates.
He also noted that there is no limit to the number of dogs that can be brought.
“I don’t think the CFIA has any hard and fast rules about an individual having one, two or five dogs,” Arthur says, “You can just say, ‘The dog is mine,’ so you can bring the dog into Canada and sell it the next day and no one will even notice.”
