Florida shelter leaders on new CDC dog import rules

Starting today, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is imposing stricter regulations for people looking to bring animals into the United States.According to the CDC, this change was made to ‘protect the health and safety of people and animals by making sure any dog arriving in the United States is healthy,’ but Florida animal rescue leaders say it was an unnecessary change. These changes will complicate the rescue efforts of organizations in the United States.“It’s the pets that are going to suffer from this gross overreach from the CDC,” Lauree Simmons, the founder of Big Dog Ranch Rescue, said. “I really do not feel it’s necessary.”Dogs must now be at least 6 months old, have a microchip, be accompanied by a CDC Dog Import Form online submission receipt and appear healthy upon arrival.“We helped a lot with the Chinese slaughterhouses years ago, with the dogs that were abandoned in the Ukraine war,” Simmons said. “We do help dogs in disaster areas like the Virgin Islands after Maria and Irma. This is going to make it almost impossible for us to be able to help.”Dogs from certain countries must also be vaccinated against rabies before their entry to the United States.“The amount of rabies is almost nil coming from other countries and has not really presented another problem,” Simmons said.Big Dog Ranch Rescue stopped importing dogs from outside the U.S. as owner surrenders are up 70% across southern states.But, Simmons said this will still impact rescues if people who travel do not want to go through the new regulations.“If you have a dog and you are traveling internationally to Europe, it’s not so much getting the dog over there; it’s getting the dog back,” she said.To learn more about Big Dog Ranch Rescue, click here.Top headlines:Stay up-to-date: The latest headlines and weather from WPBF 25 Get the latest news updates with the WPBF 25 News app. You can download it here.

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