Friday, July 20, 2012

Pet imports to Ireland, a first for EFL International

EFL International Distribution Limited became the first company in Ireland to gain approval as a carrier under the Pet Passport System.

As a consequence of changes in European legislation relating to the movement of pet animals within the EU, EFL International Distribution, based in Dublin, increased their pet transport division with more resources relating to the handling and moving of live animals.

In December 2011, EFL International received authorisation from the Irish Government Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine, to operate as an approved registered carrier of Pets into Ireland from other EU member states.

EFL continued to seek ways to improve services and have now become the first freight company in Ireland to be granted authorisation to operate as a transporter of pet cats and dogs under regulation 6 of the European Communities (Pet Passport) Regulations 2012.

This allows EFL International to provide full document and animal examination of pets arriving from countries considered to be of high risk for animal diseases, services that were traditionally only available at one Government approved veterinarian clinic in Dublin.

“We will provide these services at Dublin airport by using a mobile clinic” comments Chris Radley, Air Freight Director for EFL International.

“We can now arrange to move pets from the five continents of the world to Dublin and look after the arrangements with the Department of Agriculture to provide a safe and speedy release of the pet to the owners, once the complete checks have proved to comply with regulations. In association with Vets Direct, all pets will be checks in a controlled, sealed environment within the mobile unit."

The first clients to use the new mobile unit will be two cats originating fromThailand. The UFL office in Bangkok worked with EFL International to arrange the movement to Dublin. EFL have also exported pets from Ireland to various countries globally, one Saint Bernard was moved  recently with the assistance of the UFL offices in London to Yangon, Burma.