1.
Collateral Damages: Killing the non-target species.
Transport
ROLDA joined the global efforts conducted by other organizations and international authorities’ bodies to stop the illegal smuggling of live animals in Europe and across the Globe.
Facts
You already know that each year, millions of animals are caught and sold as pets, leather, trophies, and tourist souvenirs or for medical purposes. A worryingly large proportion of these transactions are illegal.
Consequences?
What you might not know about pets (adopted dogs) transport within EU/EEA
In Norway, a study was conducted in 2012 to test the street dogs adopted by Norwegians from Eastern Europe which apparently showed that about 50% of these dogs did not have protection, high enough titer, following the rabies vaccine but also problems with parasites. As a result, all commercial imports from Romania were stopped in June 2013, but after coming to an agreement with Romanian Authorities regarding special rules for import to Norway, the import was allowed again at the beginning of 2014.
In June 2017, Mattilsynet stopped and banned all non-commercial imports, they regarded all adoptions/imports to be commercial imports. It was allowed only to travel with your own dog if you were already living in Norway, or tourists coming to Norway. Or if you had lived for a long time abroad, you could bring your dog/animal back to Norway. But you could not adopt or import and travel to get them yourself.
Mattilsynet banned the import since the Norwegian parliament wanted the adoptions/imports to stop, because of the fear of false documents and diseases. They used the study from 2012 to prove their point. After complaints to EFTA and massive protests from breeders, this new ban never came into force. Mattilsynet says they will continue to work towards a ban on the import, but to target the adoptions of homeless animals they mean is a danger to both humans and animals in Noway.
Sweden country was very close to following Norway’s example.
Germany was flooded with strays from Romania. Trucks loaded with dogs, more or less healthy, with papers more or less in order – all these put the patience of German authorities at try. The German shelters became soon overpopulated with East dogs. As a result, some of these dogs were “unloaded” from trucks directly in parks across Germany “for a better chance”. Sick dogs, with no vaccine, and no passport were put together in the same trucks with healthy dogs.
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About TRACES
Since the TRACES system was implemented as the only legal option for a dog to travel within EU space, a new “business” appeared in Romania: there are veterinary who make money charging individuals or organizations that are not authorized by the Veterinary Authority from Romania, therefore not allowed to have a TRACES number. These vets are charging even 100 EUR per TRACES document/per dog and of course, this is illegal because access to TRACES is free but it is conditioned by respecting some rules (e.g. a shelter must have diseases control measurements, must be verified by ANSVSA, etc).
In October 2017, the largest ever illegal animal transport was stopped in Germany: 7000 animals crowded in a truck, stopped on a motorway in Bavaria.
(Source thelocal.de)
(Source thelocal.de)
