Striking headline, but that is the general message I received recently when numerous people forwarded me the Mail Online article Gove says EU laws prevent Britain from cracking down on puppy smuggling and pledges to tighten up rules after we quit the bloc.
Around the same time the Government came under fire for reportedly voting that animals weer NOT sentient. This apparently was mis reporting at it’s best.
The general thrust of both of the above points is that while a EU Member the UK Government is limited as to what it can introduce to improve Animal Welfare and post Brexit intends to improve Animal Welfare. Two examples given are the clamp down on Puppy Smuggling and not allowing the transport of livestock abroad for slaughter.
Which is what led to numerous comments saying that the UK would not be part of the TRACES System and would be cancelling the PETS SCHEME and reverting to the previous Quarantine system.
Hence all the messages sending me the link and asking what we will do.
Well the short, simple, and accurate answer is that we will wait and see what they announce and make any necessary changes and plans.
As to what I think ……..
PETS SCHEME
Why would they remove this? The fear at the time they introduced it was that a) the UK’s status of being Rabies Free would be threatened and b) dogs would bring Tapeworm into the UK.
Neither of these have happened, and the reality is that the PETS SCHEME is a huge revenue contributor to Eurotunnel (of which UK is a Shareholder) with over 1 million pets transported a year at a cost of £18 per pet, and surely contributes to the tourist trade into the UK as people can travel so easily with their pets when they come to the UK on holiday, or move to the UK.
TRACES
On the surface there is more to the fear that they will remove the UK from the TRACES Scheme if they go ahead and ban the transport of livestock for slaughter?
If that were to be the case why would they need it still?
Because …….. TRACES is designed to record the change of ownership and movement of livestock, and livestock is moved across borders for reasons other than slaughter.
So as things stand I really can’t see that either of these schemes will be changed post Brexit.