DONEGAL people buying pets from the North will have to buy them pet passports and have them micro-chipped under new laws which have come into force.
The same cross-Border rules now apply in the opposite direction too, a spokesman for the Department of Agriculture told donegaldaily.com.
The regulations have been brought in by the EU.
In theory it also means that someone from Pettigo taking their pet out for the day in Fermanagh – or someone from Lifford walking their dog over the bridge into Strabane – must have the animal chipped and must have a passport.
“The new requirement is that all pets travelling from the UK to Ireland should be microchipped and accompanied by a pet passport,” confirmed a spokesman.
However the spokesman said: “As both Ireland and the UK have had no indigenous rabies for many decades, compliance checks on pets travelling between the two countries will not be applied. Pet owners travelling with their pets should therefore not experience any change on the ground.”
Under the rules, pets travelling from other non-qualifying (high risk) countries can also travel into Ireland without quarantine provided the pet has a passport/certificate showing identification and a subsequent rabies vaccination.
At least 30 days after rabies vaccination a pet must be blood tested to confirm a neutralising antibody titration at least equal to 0.5 IU/ml. A pet may enter Ireland only when at least three months has expired since a successful blood-test.
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