The CDC says the new rules targeting dogs will prevent the spread of rabies in the United States.
A bipartisan group of senators called on the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) not to go ahead with a previously announced rule that would restrict the number of dogs coming into the country that’s slated to go into effect next month.
The CDC’s new requirement on importing dogs into the United States is set to go into effect Aug. 1. The agency rules desgined to stop the spread of rabies, mandates that dog owners show documentation and meet age requirements in order to have a dog enter the country. A rule published in the Federal Register says that U.S. Customs officers will enforce the measure at border crossings.
“Preventing infected dogs from entering the United States is a public health priority,” the agency said in May in announcing the rule. “Each dog imported with rabies could infect people and other animals and could cost more than half a million dollars to contain.”
However, the mandate, according to the group of senators led by Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine), could be particularly “onerous for dog owners, breeders, truckers, and sportsmen and women who frequently cross the U.S.-Canadian border” for a variety of reasons, including work.
While describing the rule as “overly broad,” the senators said they back the CDC’s goal to prevent the spread of rabies, which can be fatal or cause paralysis, in dogs.
“The unprecedented requirements included in the final rule, such as the six-month minimum age requirement for dogs to enter the United States and the need for a microchip before a rabies vaccination and additional documentation and certification,” they warned, “would create significant barriers to low-risk entry from Canada into the United States and have a disproportionate effect on border communities in our states.”
The letter placed emphasis on truck drivers who travel across the border with their dogs, noting that they could “face difficulties in meeting these regulations” while carrying goods into the United States.
In a report issued on its website, the CDC said that the most significant rabies threat to Americans comes from foxes, skunks, and raccoons, noting that fewer than 10 people die each year on average from the virus since the 1960s. In 2022, the agency warned of a rise in rabies linked to bats after three people, including a child, died from the virus.
