The U.S. Centers for Disease Control has rolled walked things back on plans that would require dog owners crossing the border from Canada to fill out extensive paperwork this summer.
The changes that were set to come into effect on August 1st were aimed at keeping dog-variant rabies out of the country. The rules stated dogs must be microchipped, vaccinated against rabies, at least six months old and accompanied by two forms, including one signed by a veterinarian. The forms were supposed to include photographs of the dog’s teeth and would be verified upon arrival by border agents.
Len Saunders is an Immigration lawyer based out of Blaine, Washington. He thinks the main factor in walking back the changes was the the federal health minister, Mark Holland. “When I first heard about this new policy two months ago, when they proposed it, I spoke to a very senior border officer, American officer in Blaine. Her first comment to me was, ‘this is going to be a nightmare, but you have to look at it.'”
Saunders says that American border officers don’t consider themselves the vaccination police. “They didn’t, for most ports of entry, ask if people were vaccinated for COVID and so going forward, I don’t think they’re going to be the vaccination police for pets, but who knows.”
“Now you still have to do a form online, even though they back off the regulation” says Saunders. “So there’s a form takes about five minutes. You put in your name, your pet name, their date of birth, your email, some personal information, like your driver’s license or your passport. So you still have to do a form, and you may be asked to show it at the border, but you don’t have to, you know, do this, you know, this whole it was like a four step process before, after, you see a vet to make sure your your your pets, vaccinated.”
Are the changes still going to come into effect, but just at a later date? “The CDC website did a recent update, and they said that it was being paused until next April. But I can’t find that now. So who knows, right?”
“I’m interested to see what happens on August the first to see if they’re asking for these forms. And the age of the pets when people bring their dogs over.”
The change is definitely good news for truck drivers as close to 20% of long haulers have a canine companion with the,
BC Trucking Association President Dave Earle says when the change was first announced it caught everybody off guard. “One of the things when we think about the border in Canada in terms of a land crossing, we have one. Well, America has two, and their southern border is a very different beast than the northern border is in terms of a whole bunch of issues.”
“I’m happy to say that officials on both sides of the borders came to the table very, very quickly, and we’re in a better place. It’s not perfect, but we’re certainly in a much better place now… It’s an ongoing conversation to say, hold it. Let’s talk about what’s happening at the northern border, at the Canada-US border, in terms of the movement of animals.”
