Owners wait in Spain for months for pet rescue rule change
Editorial Department • Published 12 Jan 2012 13:00
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Siberian Huskies might be commonly associated with extreme cold conditions in wild landscapes. But Elli, the snow-white Siberian Husky owned by Laura Johnston has never known that. Elli has spent almost all her entire life in sunny Spain - until last week.
Because Laura has saved Elli after she heard she was going to be humanely destroyed.
Laura and her partner, Gary had gone out to the Alicante area of Spain last June hoping to make a new life there. Before going there, she had discovered on the internet that Elli was in a rescue centre and was going to be humanely destroyed. She applied to save her. On arrival, Laura was united with Elli and she stayed with her and Gary for around seven months in Spain. But lack of work opportunities there persuaded them to return to Fermanagh. The only problem was that UK and Ireland's pet travel regulations were so strict that they had to wait until January 1 2012 to move Elli. That was the date when the rules were changed so that dogs under the PETS regulations could travel between EU countries with a pet passport containing proof of vaccination against rabies and certain other diseases.
"We were due to come back here in September but Elli's passport would not allow her to travel until January 1," explained Laura.
"I wouldn't have left her(Elli) behind to let someone else look after her so we just stayed until the January 1 deadline, " she added.
And so the New Year for Laura, Gary and Elli began with an epic three-day journey from the south of Spain, through France to the port of Cherbourg where they caught the ferry to Ireland. Their date of ferry crossing was Monday week past, the night of the severe storms which swept across the British Isles.
"We left on Monday at 4pm after being delayed but what should have been a 16-hour crossing was much longer because of the weather," Laura and Gary explained.
On boarding the ferry, they were also disappointed that Elli was taken away to be put into a kennel on the ship. She arrived back in Ireland traumatised by the experience and both Laura and Gary were sick for most of the journey.
But eventually they made their way back to Lisbellaw where there was a big family reunion as well as the opportunity for Elli to meet another family pet - a Husky owned by Laura's grandfather, John McDowell.
This article appeared in Impartial Reporter 12 Jan 12
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