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 The suspension applies to all dogs, including puppies, emotional
support dogs, and dogs that traveled out of the United States and
returning from high-risk countries. It also includes dogs arriving
from other countries if they have been in a high-risk country during
the previous six months.
The CDC said the "temporary action is necessary to ensure the health
and safety of dogs imported into the United States and to protect
the public’s health against the reintroduction of canine rabies
virus variant (dog rabies) into the United States."
Emily Pieracci, a veterinary medical officer at the CDC, told
Reuters that over the last year during the COVID pandemic "there has
been a significant increase in the number of dogs that are being
imported and presenting fraudulent or falsified rabies vaccination
certificates."The 113 countries include Russia, China, India,
Brazil, Peru, Kenya, El Salvador, Guatemala, Belarus, Afghanistan,
Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Jordan, Ecuador, Cuba, Malaysia, Indonesia,
Nigeria and Saudi Arabia, the CDC said.
Pieracci also noted that during the COVID-19 pandemic many dog
vaccination programs around the world have been suspended or
canceled. She cited a growing number of canine rabies cases in Haiti
and Peru as a result of dog vaccination cutbacks.
"Given the impact that COVID has had on these vaccination programs
around the world, we're not really sure what our rabies landscape is
going to look like in the future," Pieracci said.
The CDC has previously estimated 1.06 million dogs are imported into
the United States annually. The CDC estimates the import ban, which
it expects to last a year, will affect about 6% of dogs imported.
The CDC said because of COVID-19's impact on flight schedules, dogs
denied entry are facing longer wait times to be returned to their
country of departure, leading to illness and even death in some
cases.
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 Dog rabies has been eliminated
from the United States since 2007, but remains
prevalent in many countries and kills 59,000
people annually around the world. Those deaths
are preventable if vaccinated before onset of
symptoms.
While dogs in the United States may still become
infected by raccoons, skunks or bats, they will
not catch dog-specific rabies from another dog.
The CDC on "an extremely limited basis" may
grant advanced written approval permitting
"importation of fully rabies-immunized dogs, 6
months or older, from a high-risk country."
Another issue is fraudulent rabies vaccination
certifications. Dogs from high-risk countries
cannot enter the United States until they are 16
weeks old and must be vaccinated.
There are few places to properly house dogs
denied entry to the United States. The CDC has
just one quarantine facility at New York's JFK
airport for dogs and the lack of facilities has
resulted in "unsafe" conditions for airport
workers and for dogs, Pieracci said.
"Some of them have been housed in airline cargo
warehouses for prolonged periods of time leading
to illness and in some instances death of the
dogs," Pieracci said. "We want people to be able
to import dogs - but want them to do it safely."
Other countries like Australia, New Zealand and
members of the European Union that have also
eliminated dog rabies have significantly greater
testing, screening and quarantine requirements
than the United States, the CDC said.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; editing by
Jonathan Oatis)
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