- LONDON (AP) -- Under pressure from well-heeled Britons who want to take
their pooches traveling, the government is considering replacing Britain's
tough quarantine laws with pet "passports" and animal microchips.
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- Pet owners moving into Britain spend
an average of $2,400 to board an animal in a quarantine kennel for six
months, part of strict laws imposed in 1901 to keep Britain rabies-free.
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- Instead of locking pets in kennels, which
dog and cat lovers say is cruel, the government says microchips could be
inserted under the animals' skin so they can be identified by an electronic
scanner at seaports and airports. Each pet also would have a passport-style
document listing vaccinations against diseases.
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- "In any event, I am determined to
make sure that the U.K. remains a rabies-free country with strong safeguards
against the disease," Agriculture Minister Nick Brown said after announcing
the plan. He called for further study before a firm decision is taken.
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- Even if it is implemented, Americans
coming to settle or work in Britain still would have to put their pets
into quarantine. Initially, the government envisages pet passports applying
only to European Union countries and perhaps Australia and New Zealand.
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- About 10,000 animals go through quarantine
in Britain each year; the most recent case of rabies in a quarantined pet
was in 1983. Only one case of a person contracting rabies from any animal
has been reported in Britain in 25 years -- a bat that bit a woman in 1996.
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- Chris Patten, the last British governor
of Hong Kong, and other well-known Britons working abroad, such as actress
Elizabeth Hurley and artist David Hockney, argue that British law condemns
their pets to months of misery if they bring them home.
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- Animal welfare and veterinary groups
are divided over the alternative plan.
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- "This system would be more effective
and more humane than the current quarantine system," said Alex Ross
of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
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- The British Veterinary Association said,
however, that passports would provide no safeguard.
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- "If it works the same as our passports,
it's going to be pretty feeble," said association spokesman Ted Chandler.
"Just flashing a document in a long queue of people coming into the
country is no check at all."
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- The proposals were made by an independent
group of experts led by Ian Kennedy, professor of Health Law, Ethics and
Policy at University College, London.
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