I want to share with you an interesting article that just came through the "AKC Communicates." Written by Patti Strand, President NAIA titled "Animal Rights Legislators Push Window Dressing Laws Instead Of Tackling Real Dangers" the article discusses the absence of regulations on animal shelters, rescues organizations and weak US pet import laws but importantly, the dangers associated with these ineffective laws. We should all be mindful of this problem not just for our public health but also for our dog's well-being.

The article is interesting because many of us live in smaller communities, and we may be volunteers at or are familiar with the volunteers and staff at our local pounds or animal shelters. The differences between these are that municipal animal pounds are funded by taxes and licensing fees and must take in any animal that is surrendered. In smaller regions, this responsibility could be contracted out to a local Humane Society or SPCA. The other type, animal shelters, are private, non-profit 501(c)(3) organizations that many of us donate money and attend local benefit fundraisers for as they would not be able to operate without the public's generosity.

It is my hope that our local facilities do not import or accept dogs from foreign countries. Though, I am aware that one of our local non-profit welfare organizations brings in dogs from other parts of the U.S. as my friend, a pilot, donates his time and plane to fly in dogs similar to the Pilots and Paws network. This local foundation called The Joshua Fund brings in special needs dogs from high kill shelters across the country with the majority, as much as 90 percent, being heartworm positive. Others are dogs who have no chance of finding a lifetime home in the area that they currently are housed, such as a Labrador Staffordshire mix brought in from a southern state facility where this dog had no chance of being adopted. Why? Because he was solid black in color and the sad truth is that racism, which is alive and well, especially in the south, also applies to dogs. As was explained to me, in some areas of the south, black dogs are considered only good for target practice. Sadistic but true.

Now though, the extent of importing dogs is increasing with Patti Strand citing several cases, but a quick investigation reveals many more not mentioned in her article such as USA Today's "36 abandoned golden retrievers rescued from Turkey" or CNN's report "How Istanbul's abandoned street dogs end up in America" Both of these reports differ as to why this lovely breed, the Golden Retriever, became so popular in Turkey but they both report on the subsequent, significant numbers of these dogs having been abandoned on the city streets of Istanbul as well as in the forests. An Atlanta-based Golden Retriever Rescue organization has imported and rescued over 126 of them already.

Despite these two feel-good stories, we have the flip side of the coin such as Fox News "Could your rescue dog have rabies?" They reported on an outbreak last year in the Midwest of canine influenza that sickened more than 1,100 dogs which was traced to the importation of foreign animals, very likely from a foreign dog or cat. Or, consider the dangers of an imported Egyptian dog with Rabies. In this case, a US-based animal rescue group exported eight dogs and 27 cats off the streets of Cairo to the United States, where, stateside, an adult female dog became symptomatic of rabies and was euthanized. In this case, the rescue organization was found to have falsified the rabies certificate on the female dog and placed her in a Virginia foster home. The dog also had an unhealed fractured leg, yet, was still transported by this rescue group. The threat of Rabies is quite serious and in this case the investigative process was huge encompassing Departments of Health in four states, as well as US Customs and Border Control, the Center for Disease Control (CDC), the Egyptian Ministry of Health and Population, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. Dozens and dozens of people had to be interviewed, and according to the CDC, eighteen persons initiated rabies post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP), including ten who were considered to have been exposed and eight who requested PEP despite reporting no clear rabies exposure.

The World Health Organization recommends that when dogs cross international borders, national importing authorities should require an international veterinary certificate attesting that the animal did not show signs of rabies at the time of shipment, was permanently identified, vaccinated, or revaccinated, and had been subjected to a serologic test for rabies before shipment.

Obviously, there are scores of conscientious animal welfare groups, but unfortunately, there seem to be as many unscrupulous ones as well. The analogy about one bad apple is very appropriate here. The CDC states that Rabies, the deadliest of all zoonotic diseases, accounts for an estimated 59,000 human deaths globally each year, and to prevent human rabies exposures and the introduction of rabies viruses, U.S. federal and state regulations place strict rabies vaccination requirements on dogs. However, these importation regulations are difficult to enforce because of limited resources at U.S. ports of entry to inspect dog shipments. These unacceptable shortcomings underscores the current difficulties in verifying any imported dog's rabies vaccination certificate and health status.

Stricter import laws need to be enacted and enforced. The legitimacy of ALL these so-called animal rescue groups should be heavily scrutinized by the appropriate legal oversight, and any group(s) who exports and imports a dog with Tuberculosis, Rabies or the like should have their non-profit status revoked, in addition to facing criminal charges. These individuals would think long and hard if they were to face both criminal and financial repercussions for fraudulent misconduct with inclusion of a permanent black-list from any non-profit organizational body in the future.

Equally troubling is how these "rescue groups" are operating. Take for example the Egyptian dog who entered through JFK in New York and was placed in a foster home in Virginia. This foster home already had eight other dogs, nine other undisclosed animals, and was also pet-sitting a neighbor's dog. The logical question is why this foster home was taking in more dogs in the first place? Why aren't limits as to the number of animals that can be housed in a foster home implemented and enforced? We are not talking about a purebred dog breeder being used as a foster home. No, this was a mixed breed off the streets of Cairo, Egypt.

All of this segues to many other documented cases of animal shelters handing over dogs to rescue organizations or foster homes that do not inspect or verify these properties. One such instance was written about in the Fort Worth Weekly titled "Animal Behavior" where they reported that dozens of animals were found in deplorable conditions under the care of a rescue group that was receiving dogs and cats from the Fort Worth Animal Shelter, even after the city had been warned of a potential problem. 91 cats were found in a trailer home, and even more incredibly, this so-called rescue group had received 800 animals from the shelter, mostly cats, over a 10-month period! How stupid can people be? It is cases like these that municipal salaried employees should not only be fired, but criminal charges should be considered for cruelty to animals.

I can understand that a purebred rescue organization in the US seek to protect their breed as in the case of the Golden Retrievers. I am curious though if anybody within the Golden Retriever breed club has investigated who and what the supply chain was, and if so, are they are still milling out "Goldens?" But, the stories of these US so-called animal rescue groups exporting dogs from foreign countries, such as Egypt, into the US are fraught with red flags. Don't we have enough homeless dogs in the US that there is a need for importing dogs off the streets of other countries? Having traveled to Egypt and a number of its cities, I have seen firsthand the population of dogs existing there -- I do not use the word "living" as that invokes the concept of flourishing -- when, in fact, these dogs are not. Nonetheless, I would liken the process of rescuing dogs in Cairo as an exercise in futility. There is a mass surfeit of homeless, feral dogs roaming Cairo with no apparent municipal force such as animal control to keep the population in check. Dogs are everywhere, sleeping in the desert, in every alley, seeking out shade under ancient statues and more as depicted in the photos I have attached. Some caring people feed them, but for the most part, the dogs must scavenge. Is it terribly sad, yes, but the reality is that most of these so-called rescue groups are only preying on Americans generosity. I wonder if the British have this issue? I suspect they do not as they have strict laws enacted and enforced to protect its citizens and country.

What can we do in our local communities? My first thought would be for all of us to start questioning our local shelter organizations if they indeed accept and put up for adoption dogs that have been imported into the US from foreign countries. As a tax-paying resident, you have every right to make these inquiries as these are 501(c)(3) organizations. If they do accept imported dogs or if they do not provide answers, write a letter to the Editor of your local newspaper or contact your local or regional news broadcast station. World Health Organization recommendations must be applied and enforced here in the US because you never know, if a disease such as Mycobacterium Tuberculosis is introduced into your dog community and is not immediately isolated, it could mean a death sentence for your dogs.