Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to ensure compliance with the Balai Directive to protect the UK from disease in relation to EU and Third country imports of stray cats and dogs.

Defra takes the threat to public and animal health posed by animals entering the United Kingdom (UK) very seriously. This includes the rescue and rehoming of stray cats and dogs from EU and Third countries under the Balai Directive, which is classed as a commercial import not as a pet import. Importation of stray dogs and cats, whose history is unknown can pose a biosecurity risk to the UK and therefore enforcement measures are in place to ensure compliance.

All consignments of stray dogs or cats from Third countries must enter through a Border Inspection Post (BIP), and receive documentary, physical and identity checks upon arrival for compliance with import requirements.

All EU consignments of dogs or cats receive documentary checks on entry and the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) conduct further checks post-import. A risk-based approach is used to determine which consignments receive a further post-importation identity and documentary check at their destination in the UK.

Where animals fail to meet the necessary health requirements for entry to the UK, they must either be quarantined until compliant, returned to their country of origin, or euthanised – all at the expense of the owner or importer. This helps to preserve the UK’s high standards of biosecurity, and acts as a deterrent to those who might otherwise be motivated to abuse Balai import requirements. The UK CVO is in correspondence with her EU counterparts in Member States where issues of non-compliance have been detected.