A couple of people locally have passed on a comment from a local vet (not one that we know) who has been saying that as all the Leishmania Test Results are held centrally in Madrid they believe that it wont be long before the Spanish Authorities start asking for these results to be part of the TRACES Scheme relating to the transport of dogs from Spain to the UK as they want to stop the export of ‘unhealthy’ dogs.
Putting aside the notion that a Leishmania Dog is a ‘unhealthy’ dog in the same way as a dog with rabies or even tapeworm is (on the basis they can both be transmitted dog to dog), this seems unworkable.
For example, if you have been living in Spain for several years and have adopted a dog with Leishmania, but then move back to the UK so your dog qualifies to be transported under the PETS Scheme, are they going to stop you taking your dog home? Unlikely, which of course will encourage more people to exploit i.e. avoid the TRACES system and use the PETS Scheme when re-homing a Leishmania Positive dog.
Are they going to make it mandatory that all dogs are tested for Leishmania, because leaving it optional and imposing the ban will just (understandably but wrongly) encourage rescues not to do the test, which will be to the detriment of the animals health. Does the ‘quick test’ done by a local vet go onto the system’ Do people with holiday homes in Spain who spend the summer in Spain test their dogs for Leishmania?
At the moment this is just speculation, but I have little doubt it will make a number of rescues considering transporting Leishmania Positive dogs into foster in the UK ‘sooner rather than later’ to avoid any risk.
If that is the case then as far as our Preferred Partners are concerned we will transport a leishmania positive dog from Spain to the UK that is going into foster for free, initially, with payment made once the dog is re-homed permanently.
Leave a Reply