Mad dogs
Sir: I was glad to see that Ross Clark is foaming with rage at Britain's quarantine laws. I am too — and a host of others employed abroad. As a dog-owner of some 25 years' standing, all over the world, I have found the risk of rabies from immunised domestic dogs to be negligible. I would like to see pet dogs with a health certificate and an international document of vaccination from birth able to enter Britain as they can any other European country.
In the central European country where I live at the moment, 99 per cent of rabies cases are foxes — who are treated as ver- min and destroyed. Last year there were 15 cases among horses, sheep and cows (who are not vaccinated and can enter Britain without quarantine), one dog that had been vaccinated and four that had not. All dogs here must be vaccinated bi-annually and carry tags to demonstrate this. Unlike Eng- land, they do not roam the streets alone but are confined to gardens, compounds, or are chained.
The Government has changed the quaran- tine laws for kennel-owners and breeders. Let us hope it will change the law for pet- owners who do not want to import foxes — just the pet who has been a member of the family for years and is certainly not rabid. Primula Birch,
185 Emery Hill Street, London SW1
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