Dear all,
now, this is a really serious issue for me. I have adopted a dog while living here in Brazil. Back then, I asked my veterinarian whether there will be any difficulties when returning with her to the EU. This veterinarian is, unsurprisingly, the "tudo bom, nao se preoccupe"-type. Back then, I still believed this kind of stuff.
In any case, the time when I'll fly back is drawing close. Which means that I freaked the f*ck out when I learned that:
-there is a comprehensive EU regulation on the "import" of animals which requires a rabies vaccination (which she has) BUT ALSO a test for rabies antibodies to check whether the vaccination worked (this I did not know)
-those tests can ONLY be done in laboratories which have officially been accredited by the EU
-there are only two such laboratories in all of Brazil. The first one had its license revoked. The other one cannot do the test right now because, wait for it, they are having trouble importing the proper diagnostic materials
-even IF a lab could do the test there would be the following problem: the test can only be done if the dog is vaccinated AND has a little chip implanted as a unique identifier
-turns out, the vaccination must take place AFTER the chip has been implanted
-my veterinarian never bothered to mention this; when I talked to him about the chip thing, I recall him saying something like "tudo bem, we'll do it later" or whatever
The first bottom line is: my visa will expire significantly earlier than it will take to a) get the chip implanted, b) give the dog another rabies shot, c) wait 30 days, d) do the test (if the laboratory works again, otherwise send the blood to a lab in a different country), e) wait 90 days, f) get some other certificate and wait 10 more days and g) fly to fucking Europe. The second bottom line is: I don't want to leave my dog here under any (!!!) circumstances.
This gets me to:
-does anybody have any experience with this? Am I missing an obvious point here? Is there some exception which makes all of this super easy? Am I misreading the finer points of EU Regulation No 576/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 June 2013 on the non-commercial movement of pet animals? Because I sure as hell hope so.
-has anyone ever tried getting a dog out of Brazil into the EU (or another country with stringent animal regulations) without the proper paper work? If yes, what would you say are the odds?
-finally, if somebody has a cousin or something in the Ministry of Health, write me a private message.
Disclaimer: the latter two points are obviously not condoning or encouraging illegal behavior of any sorts.
And apologies for the expletives.