By Melissa Devlin | Coordinator, Donor Engagement & Development
In June of 2020 Humane Canada was spurned into action to shine a light on the plight of imported pandemic puppies when at least 38 puppies died in a shipment of 500 dogs on a flight from Ukraine, prompting an investigation by the CFIA that led to a change in federal rules that restricted imports from Ukraine to puppies over eight months old.
We are pleased to share that the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has now made important changes to the laws regarding the importation of puppies under 8 months of age into Canada. These changes apply to the breeding and re-sale of dogs, which include adoption and animal welfare organizations.
These changes are to improve compliance with humane transport and animal health requirements. This review was initiated after the inspection of an air shipment of dogs in June 2020, in which a number of dead, sick and suffering dogs were found. The on-going investigation into that incident led the CFIA to take enforcement actions.
As of May 15, 2021, permits will be issued by the CFIA with changes including:
Multiple entry permits will be replaced with single entry permits, and importers will have to specify the number of dogs to be imported.
Kennel of origin must be certified by an official veterinarian.
Dogs will require rabies vaccination at least 28 days before export to Canada and will need to be treated for internal and external parasites prior to export.
Importers will be required to provide information about the travel route from the country of origin to the final destination in Canada. They will also be required to schedule a CFIA inspection at the airport or land border crossing where the animals enter Canada.
Importers transporting dogs by air must have a post-import quarantine facility that has been pre-approved by the CFIA in case arriving animals require further inspection and/or quarantine.
Permits can only be obtained through mycfia.org.
If importers are found non-compliant, or the puppies don’t meet the health and vaccine requirements to enter into Canada, the puppies will be shipped back to their country of origin.
While these are important improvements for the protection of puppies, please note that the CFIA has indicated that they will return puppies of non-compliant importers back to the importers, once the regulations have been met, or to their port of origin. Both of these scenarios raise animal welfare concerns depending on the age, physical and emotional health and conditions the puppies were raised and shipped in.
Humane Canada continues their public education campaign in partnership with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, to encourage the public to do their due diligence when searching for a dog, the goal is to empower and educate the public to look out for red flags and not support a puppy mill or puppy broker inadvertently.
Thank you for joining us in our crusade to end puppy mills in Canada.
Links:
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
Support this important cause by creating a personalized fundraising page.
Start a Fundraiser
