[Dailydrool] Coming to Hawaii, and quarantine regulations

[Val Brewer]

Aloha,
    I posted awhile ago about the regulations here.  They used to be a "bear" (and now they are still a "bear cub".
    Hawaii prides itself on being a rabies-free locale.  If a pet is coming to the islands from another country which is also "rabies-free"--such as Australia-pets do not need to go through quarantine.  This is why almost all of the purebred puppies in Hawaii which are not born on Hawaii are imported from Australia.  It is not possible to bring a puppy from the mainland who is under about 10 months of age.
    The quarantine rules used to require that an animal coming in from the mainland stay in the quarantine station's kennels for four months before release.  Very expensive, and hard especially on the dogs, although the kennels there are really large (almost big enough for a person to live in)-each has an enclosed house (maybe 6 ft. long by 8 ft. high by 4 ft. wide) and a totally enclosed private fenced run --and visitors are allowed for several hours each day.  Our cat came through this arrangement.  It wasn't too horrible.  We had two chairs and a table in the run and my husband and son would play chess, and I would brush our cat when we visited.  We supplied our own food to our kitty.
    A few years ago the regulations were altered, so that if a person does a lot of prep work before moving here, the animals can avoid quarantine.  This prep work involves having a rabies vaccination, then having blood titers for rabies antibodies taken at several intervals afterwards; microchipping the pet, and having a veterinary examination within a week of shipping the animal here.  This takes several months in advance (about 120 days, if I recall).  The paperwork must be faxed to Hawaii authorities before the pet arrives.  All of this info. is available on the Web.  It should also be in our Drool archives from a post of mine awhile back, when I was wondering if any mainland rescue organization would be willing to undertake all of this in order to place rescues in Hawaiian homes looking for bassets. (Didn't get any takers--I know it's a hassle).  
    The person who wrote in this morning said that they had done all of the prep work for the "no quarantine option".
     I'd still be interested in referring Hawaii families looking for bassets to any rescue organization that would be willing to consider them, and would also be happy to do any home visits, or host anyone accompanying a dog to the islands (not a bad deal, folks, though I don't live in Honolulu or on the water).   Currently, all I do is refer basset-lookers to basset-rehomers when the latter turn up ( very infrequently compared to the former).
     Aloha.  Val, Beauregard, and Harley in Hawaii

       
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