Quarantine: Swedish Scheme (Hansard, 17 July 1996)

Lord Lucas
My Lords, senior officials from the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food visited Sweden and Norway late last year to get a first-hand idea of how the new quarantine systems there are working. They found that there were significant administrative problems due to the vast increase in numbers of people wishing to import their pets and the complexity of the procedures required. Smuggling also still remained a problem.

§ Baroness Sharples
My Lords, I thank my noble friend for that Answer, but does he accept that over many years both pets and their owners have suffered great stress because of our quarantine rules which mean six months in quarantine? Given that there are now proven inoculations against rabies, microchip identification and other precautions, does not my noble friend agree that we should move more towards the Swedish model?

Lord Lucas
My Lords, I certainly think that we should keep the Swedish experiment in mind, but we must also keep in mind several other points. Yes, there is a lot of inconvenience at the moment for people who return to this country with pets and for people who 827 would like to take their pets abroad. We estimate that, in addition to that inconvenience, the financial cost to both pet owners and the taxpayer is about £12 million per year. However, that is very small beer compared with the problems that would result if rabies became endemic in this country. We reckon that the financial cost of protecting the dogs and cats in the United Kingdom would run to about £200 million per year. There would also be incalculable inconvenience to everybody from knowing that there was rabies in this country and that bites from pets and wild animals were dangerous.

§ Lord Carter
My Lords, is it true that there have been only two cases of rabies from imported animals since 1966? Is the Government's reluctance to change the quarantine laws due to concern about human health or is it the result of some extremely effective lobbying by the Kennel Club and the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons?

Lord Lucas
No, my Lords. As I think that I have just explained, we have reached a balanced judgment on the course of action that will cause the people of the United Kingdom in general the least cost and the least inconvenience. At the moment, while rabies still remains widespread in the near parts of the Continent of Europe, we are convinced that our current regime is the right one.

§ Lord Desai
My Lords, can the noble Lord explain to the House how every other country in Europe manages without rules of this kind? Surely, they do not incur the same kind of costs in taking care of their pets?

Lord Lucas
My Lords, they pay the cost of vaccinating their pets and have the inconvenience of having to vaccinate people when they are bitten by animals. We reckon that in the United Kingdom there are 200,000 or 300,000 such incidents a year, every one of which would require subsequent vaccination if we had rabies in this country. They cannot keep rabies out of continental countries. Not surprisingly, the borders are too porous and open to foxes. This country is in a privileged position and it is one that we wish to retain.

§ Baroness Sharples
My Lords, does my noble friend accept that a considerable number of people try to smuggle their dogs into the country?

Lord Lucas
My Lords, yes. One of the great advantages of the current system is that it is known that when a dog comes in with a person who has returned from abroad that animal must have been brought in illegally, because all animals have to go into quarantine. Under any other system smuggling would be a worse problem, as indeed the Swedes have found.

§ The Earl of Liverpool
My Lords, is my noble friend aware that a great number of people in this country would very much like to export their pets but are unable to do so—I am referring to holidays and matters of that kind—because of the current legislation? Does the 828 Minister agree that the Swedish system has proved the efficacy of tagging, inoculation and blood testing? Can he provide some encouragement to those pet owners who expect some kind of relaxation of the very onerous six-month quarantine requirement?

Lord Lucas
My Lords, as to the second part of the question posed by my noble friend, when rabies becomes much less common on the near continent than it is at the moment that may be a good time to look again at the balance of inconvenience. Referring to my noble friend's first supplementary question, we are aware that there have been problems in exporting pets to countries. It has not always been possible to sign the necessary export certificates without prior agreement. That has caused considerable and regrettable inconvenience. However, we have quickly contacted all of the importing countries when we have become aware of such problems and many have agreed to new import conditions which will allow people to move their pet animals with them.