CorvusCorax
'It's only a laugh, no harm done'
Having travelled in Europe with my own dogs and been very happy to comply with very stringent rules, having chips and passports checked, driving long distances and stopping every few hours to clean my dogs (including going down several times in the night time if we're on a boat), I've often wondered how commercial transporters with multiple dogs manage it, it's enough of a faff with two or three, and these are not nervous/skittish rescues, they know me and they are happy to go for a wee with me in a strange layby or services car park with cars and lorries whizzing past or to be taken out and scanned and put away again, either at a kiosk or in a terminal.
For instance, my friend's vet had made a bit of a smudge on the pet passport/it wasn't initialled and they were held at the French side and had to go to a vet to get it sorted out and it was a right palaver.
This post has confirmed some of my worst fears.
Originally posted by Pet Transport Services on March 27:
It’s not often we have a rant via these means as we like to relay good news and positive stories but sometimes something irks us so much, it just has to be shared.
As most of our followers will know, we have gone to considerable lengths, both time-wise and at significant cost, to ensure we are compliant and operating within the new laws following Brexit. We have obtained our EU type 2 licences to ensure we can continue to take pride in the effort we put into the job we do both in the U.K. and throughout Europe. Our vans are immaculate both inside and out and we limit the number of pets we transport to 5 at a time. So imagine our dismay when we witness first-hand the following scenarios at Eurotunnel Pet Reception, Calais this week:
1- the car park is full of Romanian, Polish and Bulgarian vans in disgusting condition both outside and in, loaded to the rafters with cages and dogs. Given what we know about the requirements for vans and transportation of pets to obtain a licence, it does beg the question how on earth these operators managed it. When we attempt to take a peek inside, the doors are quite deliberately closed to prevent us doing so.
2- while standing at the counter checking our pets in we overhear the conversation next to us (one of these drivers checking in a pet, held under his arm),
“are you the owner of this dog”
“Yes”
“So this is your pet?”
“Yes”
“What’s your name”
(Gives name)
“Ok, thank you, but before you go, this is the 5th time in the last 2-months you have checked in a different pet supposedly your own. I do not want to see you here again doing this at any time”
The driver returns to his van, only for another person to step out with a dog in tow, about to enter Pet Reception to do exactly the same. There were 3 or 4 people in the van doing this.
3- another driver enters Pet Reception with 17-dogs on board and proceeds to provide TRACES documents for all. Since Jan 1st 2021 we are being told that TRACES has now been replaced by IPAFFS, the new U.K. system for registering Imports to the U.K. of live animals. Not only were there only 13-TRACES documents, some were old, some obviously missing only to be replaced by passports. Apparently though, this was all acceptable to Eurotunnel who authorised all the dogs for transport to the U.K.
Now our question to Eurotunnel and to DEFRA/APHA is this - what on earth is the point of regulations and controls when quite clearly the staff at Pet Reception either have no comprehension of the rules or no minerals to enforce them? If we are to eradicate the illegal transportation of dogs from EU and non-EU member states then surely the best place to start is at the border? The reason these people check dogs in one by one as pets is because they do not have a licence to transport them. The reason they are evasive about what’s in their vans is because of the inhumane conditions under which they are transported. Please come out from behind your desks and take a look at what’s going on quite blatantly in your own car park Eurotunnel!
It shocks us that this is allowed to happen still given we are 3-months into the new year and the new rules. I urge everyone who follows us to share this message as many times as possible with as many people as possible in the hope it might one day land on the page of someone who has the power to do something about it. BBC Panorama would be a great starting point.
I also hope that it might draw on the conscience of anyone out there who is thinking of adopting a dog from abroad. By all means please don’t stop. However, if you are being quoted a very low price for its transportation, read above! It’s low because there are 20 or 30 dogs in the van. None get a walk, they all lie in their own urine and excrement for days at a time and are ‘cleaned’ upon arrival. None will be fed and they are given very little water. If you are looking at rehoming a dog to give it a better life, make sure it starts from when it leaves the rescue centre, not just from when it arrives at your door!
Rant over.
Follow up post:
Magnificent response to our last post. Thank you to everyone who has viewed and shared the post. Please don’t stop, keep up the good work. In less than 20-hours we have just under 10,000 views and 172 shares. The more that see and share the post, the more chance it may land on the right persons desk.
Just as an after thought, and this may well be the sceptic in me, could it be the case that in the immediate vicinity of Calais the kennels and shelters are full to the rafters and someone somewhere has made the decision to let as many commercial transportations cross to the U.K. to let us deal with the problem? I say this because one of the passports for one of the 5 dogs we brought back to the U.K. last Friday had a slight issue - the date of the microchip reading pre-dated the date of the passport, and our drivers were made to go to a local vet to get a new passport arranged, which obviously we did.
It just begs the question that Eurotunnel should be so particular with legitimate Pet Transporters bringing in genuine pets with passports yet commercial transporters get away with murder. ????
For instance, my friend's vet had made a bit of a smudge on the pet passport/it wasn't initialled and they were held at the French side and had to go to a vet to get it sorted out and it was a right palaver.
This post has confirmed some of my worst fears.
Originally posted by Pet Transport Services on March 27:
It’s not often we have a rant via these means as we like to relay good news and positive stories but sometimes something irks us so much, it just has to be shared.
As most of our followers will know, we have gone to considerable lengths, both time-wise and at significant cost, to ensure we are compliant and operating within the new laws following Brexit. We have obtained our EU type 2 licences to ensure we can continue to take pride in the effort we put into the job we do both in the U.K. and throughout Europe. Our vans are immaculate both inside and out and we limit the number of pets we transport to 5 at a time. So imagine our dismay when we witness first-hand the following scenarios at Eurotunnel Pet Reception, Calais this week:
1- the car park is full of Romanian, Polish and Bulgarian vans in disgusting condition both outside and in, loaded to the rafters with cages and dogs. Given what we know about the requirements for vans and transportation of pets to obtain a licence, it does beg the question how on earth these operators managed it. When we attempt to take a peek inside, the doors are quite deliberately closed to prevent us doing so.
2- while standing at the counter checking our pets in we overhear the conversation next to us (one of these drivers checking in a pet, held under his arm),
“are you the owner of this dog”
“Yes”
“So this is your pet?”
“Yes”
“What’s your name”
(Gives name)
“Ok, thank you, but before you go, this is the 5th time in the last 2-months you have checked in a different pet supposedly your own. I do not want to see you here again doing this at any time”
The driver returns to his van, only for another person to step out with a dog in tow, about to enter Pet Reception to do exactly the same. There were 3 or 4 people in the van doing this.
3- another driver enters Pet Reception with 17-dogs on board and proceeds to provide TRACES documents for all. Since Jan 1st 2021 we are being told that TRACES has now been replaced by IPAFFS, the new U.K. system for registering Imports to the U.K. of live animals. Not only were there only 13-TRACES documents, some were old, some obviously missing only to be replaced by passports. Apparently though, this was all acceptable to Eurotunnel who authorised all the dogs for transport to the U.K.
Now our question to Eurotunnel and to DEFRA/APHA is this - what on earth is the point of regulations and controls when quite clearly the staff at Pet Reception either have no comprehension of the rules or no minerals to enforce them? If we are to eradicate the illegal transportation of dogs from EU and non-EU member states then surely the best place to start is at the border? The reason these people check dogs in one by one as pets is because they do not have a licence to transport them. The reason they are evasive about what’s in their vans is because of the inhumane conditions under which they are transported. Please come out from behind your desks and take a look at what’s going on quite blatantly in your own car park Eurotunnel!
It shocks us that this is allowed to happen still given we are 3-months into the new year and the new rules. I urge everyone who follows us to share this message as many times as possible with as many people as possible in the hope it might one day land on the page of someone who has the power to do something about it. BBC Panorama would be a great starting point.
I also hope that it might draw on the conscience of anyone out there who is thinking of adopting a dog from abroad. By all means please don’t stop. However, if you are being quoted a very low price for its transportation, read above! It’s low because there are 20 or 30 dogs in the van. None get a walk, they all lie in their own urine and excrement for days at a time and are ‘cleaned’ upon arrival. None will be fed and they are given very little water. If you are looking at rehoming a dog to give it a better life, make sure it starts from when it leaves the rescue centre, not just from when it arrives at your door!
Rant over.
Follow up post:
Magnificent response to our last post. Thank you to everyone who has viewed and shared the post. Please don’t stop, keep up the good work. In less than 20-hours we have just under 10,000 views and 172 shares. The more that see and share the post, the more chance it may land on the right persons desk.
Just as an after thought, and this may well be the sceptic in me, could it be the case that in the immediate vicinity of Calais the kennels and shelters are full to the rafters and someone somewhere has made the decision to let as many commercial transportations cross to the U.K. to let us deal with the problem? I say this because one of the passports for one of the 5 dogs we brought back to the U.K. last Friday had a slight issue - the date of the microchip reading pre-dated the date of the passport, and our drivers were made to go to a local vet to get a new passport arranged, which obviously we did.
It just begs the question that Eurotunnel should be so particular with legitimate Pet Transporters bringing in genuine pets with passports yet commercial transporters get away with murder. ????
