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The Heartbreaking Hazards Of Sending Dogs South.
By Glenda Thompson
Probably one of the most stressful things (for both animals
and owners alike) to do when one is packing up to leave a country
is getting the paperwork, the jabs, microchips, crates, tickets et
al, sorted out for the pet’s journey to its owner’s new home. Some
people choose to leave their animals behind and find new homes for
them rather than have the hassle of sending them out of the
country. Others have them put down. The majority of
dog/cat/canary/parrot lovers take their pets with them. They are,
after all, part of the family. Speak to anyone who ships their
beloved animals from one country to another and they will say that
home is not home without their precious pets.
We have moved from various countries in Southern Africa
with our animals for the last twenty six years and have never, up
until now, had a problem. Bringing animals in to Zambia is a
breeze. They don’t have to go into quarantine and one simply picks
them up from the airport and whisks them home. One of our
neighbours on Nakambala Sugar Estates in Zambia thought that he’d
whisked his dogs home but when he arrived at his new abode he found
that the cages were empty! Somehow his dogs had wangled their way
out of their confined space and had gleefully gone tanking off into
the sugar cane, a few km’s from their new abode!
Sending dogs to South Africa is a different story however.
They must have an up to date rabies jab, which is definitely not a
problem. However, within a ten day period before their date of
departure, they have to have been inspected by the local Government
vet to make sure that they are in good shape to travel. They also,
and this is crucial, need to be signed off by the Government Vet as
not having any of the following diseases: Brucella canis;
Trypanosoma evansi; Babesia Gibsoni; Dirofilaria immitis or
Leishmaniosis. The Government vet will sign the dog off as not
having any of these diseases as they will tell you that they are not
found in Zambia. You will, therefore, happily forget about them
altogether. After all, what is the point of worrying about something
that should not concern you? You take the word of someone in
authority and simply forget all about it. In fact not only has the
Government vet told you that the diseases mentioned are nothing to
worry about, but the pet agents (we used Animal Travel) in South
Africa will also tell you not to worry. “As long as their rabies
vaccines are up to date, they’re fine” we were told several times in
emails and over the phone. We were also told not to worry too much
about the crates used to air freight the animals. We happily had
the crates made by a local woodwork center, only to find, when we
took them to the airport, that they were made from the wrong
material. The crates must be waterproof and should, preferably, be
made from plywood.
Once the crates had been replaced, the dogs finally
“vetted” by the district (in this case Mazabuka) vet, and the
tickets purchased we sped off to the airport to deposit our
precious cargo : two black Labradors, one little Shitsu/Maltese
cross called Chips and a fluffy black and white “zamcat”. We phoned
Animal Travel a few hours later to find out if they had arrived
safely. All was well, they told us. The dogs would be at the
quarantine station near the airport for two weeks (all being well)
and the cat at a local kennels/cattery as she did not have to go
into quarantine. This is the normal procedure when bringing dogs
and cats into South Africa. The dogs are quarantined but the cats
(lucky beasts) are not.
Two weeks after arriving at our home in Pietermaritzburg we
phoned Animal Travel to find out when we could pick up our animals.
We were told that we could certainly fetch the Labradors and the
cat. Little Chips however, had a problem. She had tested positive
for Leishmania, one of the diseases that Zambian vets do not
acknowledge as being in the country. I phoned the quarantine
station and was told that if she tested positive a second time for
Leishmania she would be destroyed … or repatriated to Zambia.
None of the vets I spoke to in South Africa knew much about
the disease. What they did know was that dogs from Mozambique were
not allowed into South Africa as it was known to be one of the
countries where the disease was prevalent. Angola is another
neighbouring country that harbours the dreaded Leishmania spreading
sand fly, but it is most prevalent in Mediterranean countries.
Why all the fuss I wondered? I had been told that Chips
did not actually have the disease, she was a “carrier”. I
discovered, after checking up on the internet, that Leishmania is a
parasitic disease spread between animals and humans by phleboto-mine
sand flies. There are two types of the disease, cutaneous
leishmaniasis and visceral leishmaniasis. The former causes large
crater like sores on the skin and the latter, swollen glands, an
enlarged liver and spleen and a low red blood cell count.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) believes that up to 12
million people around the world are affected by the disease, but
many are unaware that they are carriers because the symptoms often
do not manifest themselves. Recorded cases have increased
significantly since the early 1990’s because of the
“leishmania-HIV/Aids co-infection, which is emerging as an extremely
serious new disease.” Leishmania quickly accelerates the onset of
Aids and shortens the life expectancy of HIV-infected people. On the
other hand, HIV spurs the spread of visceral leishmania. Definitely
a disease to be taken seriously!
At the beginning of last year several dogs coming in from
Tanzania (also a country not admitting to having the disease) and
various other African countries including Zambia tested positive to
the disease in the quarantine station and all were destroyed or
repatriated. At the time, the tests that were used by the
Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute (OVI) for Leishmania were
considered to be inaccurate. In the last twelve months however, a
more sophisticated testing system has been put in place and although
the tests are still “subjective” they are a lot more accurate.
I followed up on the case of three other dogs from Zambia
that had been tested for the disease before leaving Zambia in
October 2006. Blood samples were sent off, by a Zambian Animal
Travel agency, to the OVI ten days before the dogs were due to fly
down to South Africa. All tested negative. The dogs still had to
be tested again once they arrived at the quarantine station. Two
tested positive a second and third time and both dogs were
destroyed. These dogs had never left Zambia before, unlike Chips
who originated from Nelspruit in South Africa.
When we picked up our Labradors from the quarantine station
we were allowed to visit our little Chips. She was overjoyed to see
us after having been incarcerated for two weeks. We were desperate
to take her with us but couldn’t. She had to stay put and be tested
a second time. We settled her down on her little pillow and hugged
her for what we hoped would not be the last time. She gave us a
quizzical look. “Can’t I come too?” she seemed to say.
A second test on Chips’ blood came back negative and we
were overjoyed and made plans to fetch her. Our joy was short
lived, however. A third and fourth test proved “positive” Chips,
our brave little snake killer (I wrote an article in the Lowdown
about her a few years back when she saved me from being bitten by a
spitting cobra. She and one of the labs killed the snake which was
over 2 metres long) and Defender Of The Front Door (she never
allowed anyone in through the door if she didn’t know them) had to
be put down. We were devastated.
Dr. Charles Gilfillan, the Chief State Veterinarian in
South Africa pointed out to us that the WHO have listed Zambia as a
country that harbours the Leishmania carrying sand fly. We looked
it up on the internet (Zambia/Leishmania) and discovered that this
was, in fact, the case. It is one of the diseases to be aware of in
Zambia, mentioned on a Zambian visa form on the web! Incidentally,
scientists predict that climate change will extend suitable
conditions for sandflies and the disease is likely to spread
throughout the world.
There is a lesson to be learnt here. If we had known about
Leishamnia, we would have insisted on having TWO blood samples taken
from each of the dogs and sent down to the OVI (Zambia does not have
the testing facilities for Leishmania) within a ten day period so
that we would have had some idea of their status. If you’re a South
African expatriate and are thinking of buying a pet, and will
eventually take it out of the country with you, rather buy a cat.
They breeze through life with nary a care and in South Africa, they
don’t have to be quarantined!! |
May
2007