U.S. Bans Dog Imports For Over 100 Countries Due To Rise In Rabies

U.S. health officials announced on Monday there will be a one-year ban on importing dogs from over 100 countries where rabies is a problem.

The United States saw a surge in puppy adoptions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, where people were able to devote time to raising a puppy while home from work. According to the Center for Disease and Control (CDC) dogs coming in from those countries must be at least four months old to receive a rabies vaccination with proof if entering the U.S.

The ban is being put into effect due to the spike of puppies being rejected entry because they are not old enough to receive the vaccine. Hundreds of dogs that were adopted during the pandemic had fraudulent or falsified rabies certificates according to the CDC. They announced in a statement:

“This action is necessary to ensure the health and safety of dogs imported into the U.S. and to protect the public’s health against the reintroduction of canine rabies virus variants,”

The suspension will apply to all dogs including puppies, and emotional support dogs, and dogs that have traveled outside of the U.S. that are returning from high-risk countries during the past six months. Included in the ban of 113 countries are China, India, Russia, Haiti and Peru.

Dog rabies in the United States has been non-existent since 2007 but remains active in other countries killing more than 59,000 people throughout the world. Once a person is diagnosed with rabies it is almost always deadly.

The CDC has estimated that bout 1.06 million dogs are imported into the U.S. yearly and estimates that the import band will affect about 6% of the importation of dogs. The CDC stated because of the impact COVID had on flight flight schedules, many dogs were denied entry and faced longer wait times to be returned to their country evidentially leading to illness and death in some cases.

The one-year ban will go into effect on July 14.