Changes to pet travel rules

DEFRA has announced that the UK will harmonise its pet movement rules with the rest of the European Union from January 1, 2012. The changes will mean a better, more proportionate way of managing the risk of rabies, bringing us into line with current science and ensuring that the risk to the UK remains very low. In recent years the incidence of rabies in domestic and wild animal populations in the EU and other countries has decreased due to the effective use of vaccine. No single case of rabies in the EU associated with the legal movement of pets under the EU pet travel scheme has been reported since its inception in 2004. The new rules will mean that all …