Rescued Pups From PV Sit on 'Death Row' in Calgary Melissa Ramsay - Global News
go to original November 28, 2013

A couple who rescued six puppies from an animal shelter in Mexico says they have met with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, and it seems there is little room for negotiation.

Lisa Ryall and her husband found six stray puppies on the streets of a village north of Puerto Vallerta which were in danger of being culled.

Desperate to help the young animals, Lisa brought them back to Canada last week, hoping they could be adopted.

However, the dogs were brought in on the wrong paperwork, and have been detained in Calgary by Canadian Border Services (CBS).

Lisa and her husband met with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) on Wednesday with hopes of working things out.

“The whole thing is absolutely insane,” says Ryall. “It can be fixed with paperwork and [the CFIA] is standing behind that paperwork that I messed up on to not allow the dogs into the country and six good homes here.”

Officials have told the couple the pups must stay in quarantine for 30 days and then be returned to Mexico.

On Wednesday, the agency pressed Ryall and her husband to sign the deportation papers – something they have so far refused to do.

“We have a problem with that, because if they go back to Mexico we don’t know how that’s going to be handled down there,” explains Lisa. “If they’re not admitted [in Mexico] it’s not going to be a humane ending for them.”

The couple will again meet with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency today, and Lisa is considering bringing along someone with legal expertise.

The bill to keep the dogs in quarantine is almost $400 a day.

Note: If you’re interested in helping the puppies, McKnight Veterinary Hospital in Calgary is accepting donations on behalf of the dogs. Contact Dave Rubenstein at (403) 457-0911. If you want to provide feedback on the issues of the puppies quarantined in Calgary by the CFIA, contact the Canadian Food Inspection Agency regarding their pet/animal restrictions.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency

The CFIA responded to Global News on Wednesday via email. Read the whole statement below:

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is committed to protecting animal and human health.  The CFIA regulates the importation of animals in order to prevent the introduction and spread of animal diseases within Canada, including diseases that can be transmitted to people.

The declarations presented by the owner to Canada's Border Services Agency (CBSA) at the time these animals were brought into the country showed that these dogs were rescue animals under eight months of age from an animal welfare organization.

Given the number of dogs being brought into Canada at once, the importer would need to have met the import requirements for commercial dogs fewer than eight months of age. These requirements include an import permit and an identification mechanism (i.e. a microchip).

These import requirements were not met. It is important to note that an import permit cannot be issued after a shipment has arrived in the country.

If the dogs had been imported for personal use (i.e. the importer was keeping all of them), only a vaccination certification and ID would have been required.

Therefore, on November 25, 2013, the CFIA issued the importer a Notice to Remove from Canada. The CFIA offered the importer a quarantine extension of 31 days to deal with the situation.

With regards to the questions around whether there have been recent changes to regulations for the importation of rescue dogs –  There were recent changes to policy for the importation of rescue dogs from the United States only.

In 2005, the CFIA introduced a special policy under commercial imports to assist animal welfare organizations that were rescuing displaced dogs from the United States in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
 
This was a temporary policy in recognition of a major disaster situation that required extraordinary measures and was not intended for regular routine operations.

After November 1, 2013, this policy, known as “Rescued dogs destined for Animal Welfare Organizations”, no longer exists.

To reiterate, this special policy would not have applied to rescue dogs from any country other than the US, such as Mexico.

The importation of all animals, including dogs, is governed by the Health of Animals Act. Section 15(1) of the Act says that ‘No person shall possess or dispose of an animal or thing that the person knows was imported in contravention of this Act or the regulations.

- With files from Amber Schinkel

Read related Global News Story.