US temporarily suspends importing dogs from Egypt

CAIRO – 12 May 2019: The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a temporary ban on importing dogs from Egypt after reporting three cases of rabid dogs from Egypt, the CDC announced in a

notice

on Friday.

The ban also includes dogs originating in Egypt and imported from third-party countries, where the dogs lived for less than 6 months, the CDC added.

“Given three recent cases of rabid dogs imported from Egypt since May of 2015, CDC is taking this action to protect public health and prevent the reintroduction of dog rabies (canine rabies virus variant), which has been eliminated from the United States since 2007,” the CDC said, noting that the ban became immediately effective.

“Before entering or re-entering the United States with a dog, importers should continue to check other federal regulations as well as rabies vaccination requirements of state and local governments at their final destination,” the CDC said.

However, Spokesperson of Agriculture Ministry Mohamed Al-Qersh denied dog exportation to the US or any other country, Sada al-Balad reported on Saturday. He added that dogs can be easily "shipped" to their owners outside Egypt but "not exported at all."

In February 2019, a case of dog attacks were reported; a video went viral on social media showing two domestic dogs attacking a nine-year-old child in New Cairo.

Dina Zoul Faqar, advocate of animal rights, told Egypt Today in previous remarks that measures are taken only against stray dogs in the Egyptian streets every time children are bitten. However, domestic dogs really need to be regulated. Zoul Faqar said dogs also have to be leashed and muzzled.

In March 2019, a police officer was mauled by two pitbulls while paying his friend a visit in a residential compound in New Cairo on Friday; however, he was saved by a pedestrian and the owner who left them unleashed in front of his villa.

A report by Egypt's General Organization for Veterinary Services revealed that a total of 1.392 million people have been bitten by stray dogs from 2014 to 2017.

Additional reporting by Amr Mohamed Kandil