Think twice before adopting a rescue dog from outside the UK.
That’s the warning from the Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture, which is reminding Islanders that animals imported from the continent can have diseases that leave new owners facing high vets’ bills and heartache.
With vets’ practices reporting an increase in disease in imported dogs, the government’s veterinary officer, Richard Ashworth, says selecting an animal without knowledge of its background is risky.
The warning comes as rescue dogs are regularly moved across Europe under a pet travel scheme – something Mr Ashworth says can create tempting on-line opportunities to re-home them.
While dogs must have a pet passport, be micro-chipped and vaccinated from rabies to be allowed into Britain, some start life in rabies-infected countries and either stray across, or are unlawfully moved across borders and then abandoned and later re-homed.
Mr Ashworth said owners who buy dogs without meeting them and assessing their temperament risk them escaping, posing a threat to livestock and having blood-borne diseases with symptoms not initially visible - by which time treatment may be complicated and expensive.
DEFA’s warning has been backed by the Manx SPCA which regularly looks for rescue dogs to be re-homed.
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