Rabies to return to Britain - by order of the EU

[R1Geezer]

http://tinyurl.com/yfualq4
It seems our masters are very jealous of our rabies free status and want us to allow non passported and potentially infected animals in. Why must we always lower our standards? Why can the EU not raise theirs on this very importanat issue? Clearly we know how to irradicate the disease, It seems our EU masters are determined that rabies will exist in all EU states. Great!

[Oneeyedvic]

R1 - youngmafbog said about RAISING standards, not keeping - hence you would need more red tape.

<<<Which could see Rabies returning to the UK? >>>

The important word here is COULD.

The article mentions that every year the number of rabies cases is falling - and the last ones mentioned (3 years ago) there were only 318 cases across the WHOLE of the EU.

Do you think that there is a big risk to the UK? 300 in around 50 million dogs and God knows how many cats.

If the whole of this dept cost (lets say) £10 million a year to run, would you think that it is worthwhile?

[R1Geezer]

I assumed he meant raising them in the EU as I suggested in the question not in the UK.

[rov1200]

We have for many years allowing certain animals to travel in and out of Britain. Although rarer than dogs the threat does exist. Because the aristocracy may be involved it would mean those and similar bloodstock would not be able to enjoy the sport of Kings.

Of course I'm referring to horses:

http://www.uky.edu/Ag...ences/pubs/asc125.pdf

[Oneeyedvic]

R1 - ah okay, I may have misunderstood then.

So presumably you feel that this is money well spent considering the risk involved - ie the 300 cases across the whole of the EU - probably equating to around a 1 in a million chance of an animal coming into the country with rabies.

[modeller]

I think blood tests do not show up rabies in the early stages which is also true of some other virus bourne diseases. That is why we have the 6 month quarantine regulation .

[R1Geezer]

I just want to preven Rabies in Britain Vic. I don't care about the rest of the EU, I just don't want them dragging us down to their level.

[brionon]

Gromit-Why bother ,you know that EVERYTHING that goes wrong is the fault of Europe to these idiots, Innit ?