Dog travel in turmoil

The CDC issued new regulations for animal travel which are causing problems for service members PCS’ing back to the US with family pets.

The CDC requirements are aimed at preventing the introduction of dog rabies into the United States. While dog rabies was eliminated in the United States in 2007, there are over 100 countries where dog rabies isn’t controlled, according to the CDC.

The new regulations will be cumbersome for some military families, and there’s some confusion. But the more immediate problem is that eight airlines will stop allowing dogs to travel back to the states with their families either in the cabin or as excess baggage in the cargo hold.  Military Times

The rules require some documentation that generally only commercial pet shippers were required to do, and which could require extra steps such as translating the CDC form into the local language for host-nation veterinarians and their supervisors, Hensel said.Military Times II

The problem arose when the new regs were mandated to take effect 1 August, during the height of military annual moves.

Due to these regs, many airlines have taken a cautious approach and barred air travel for the pets totally.

German airline Lufthansa is the most recent airline to make the announcement. “Due to new restrictions imposed by the U.S. authorities it is no longer possible to import dogs into the USA after 1 August 2024 until further notice,” the Lufthansa website states.

“Just check it into the cargo hold and pick it up when you land” no longer applies. Plus, having translations of documents done ain’t cheap – I remember when service members who were unable or unwilling to comply with having all their marriage forms translated into German went to other countries to get married outside the German purview – it was cheaper. (Disclosure – we married in Denmark and the savings by not having to pay for all the translation paid for the honeymoon.)

Monday August 22 the CDC, responding to public push-back, pushed out the implementation date to April 30 2025.

There are two versions of the CDC Dog Import Form: one for dogs coming from no-to-low risk countries for dog rabies, and the other for dogs coming from high-risk countries for dog rabies. The list of high-risk countries is here. Dogs coming from those countries have more requirements, such as documentation and testing. Military Times II

In the long run there is still the requirement for additional paperwork, and even though CDC moderated its stance, no word from the 8 airlines concerned if they are going to ease up.  And the process is Byzantine at best – with the possibility that if something goes wrong, your pet could be returned to its departure point, leaving you on the hook for all the expenses.

If families can’t travel with their dogs, they may be left with no alternative other than to use a pet shipper to navigate the complex requirements. While the cost for a dog to travel with the family has been around $400, it will now be more than $2,000, Hensel said, noting that the cost to ship a dog from overseas through a pet shipper could be anywhere from $2,500 to over $4,000, depending on the dog, location and other factors.

I recall that in Germany ‘way back when, due to fears of rabies hunters were ordered to kill any cat or dog running loose more than 200 meters from a village. I get the concern.

Adding a few grand to a service member’s PCS bill for no benefit?  Not cool.

H/t to Jeff LPH!

Category: Government Incompetence