Dogs into Turks - Wow what a PITA!

[Cheechako]

Just skip the T&C.

[bvander]

Originally Posted by TJ D

Well, now that you mention it, I have probably seen as many signs regarding unattended/badly behaved children as I have about pets at various resort/marina type places...

Their rules-leave the kids at home! To do otherwise would be some variation of irresponsible or cruel!

(Joking... hold your fire!)

That's why when cruising its best to avoid resorts and marinas.

[bvander]

Originally Posted by thinwater

Obviously.

There are also the small islands and beaches functionally destroyed by dog walkers that don't clean up. Bird roockeries disturbed.

More obviously, they post the rules, which means it was made obvious they wanted you to leave the pet at home, and you knew this before you took the pet aboard. Their rules.

Education, the BIGGEST threat to wildlife in the Caribbean is plastic. All those bottles and packaging that ends up on beaches and in the ocean. This comes from PEOPLE, not dogs and cats. Lets focus on the real problem, not one that is so far down in the weeds to be insignificant.
I just cringe when I see boaters load up their boats with cases of bottled water, mainly because they are too lazy to properly commission their water tanks. Now that's something to get behind.

[Uncle Bob]

Other countries have their regulations regarding many things, for those that believe that the way that they do things in their own country is the way that they will do so in another country ,regardless of the wishes of the government of that country, you are demonstrating the most selfish and ignorant of attitudes.
As a comparison, some countries operate motor vehicles on the left hand side of the road, would you deem it appropriate that the residents of those countries continue to do so when they are in places where the reverse is the case? No I thought not, they should conform to the rules of the country they are in, not where they are from. If you don't like it, just don't go.
If you do not understand the requirements, educate yourself or go elsewhere.

[bvander]

Originally Posted by Basil

Great post,
the German wasp was introduced into nz on returning ww2 equipment coming into nz, that in turn has effected the bee population drastically, now we have had the viroa mite from overseas which is killing off the hives.this could have been introduced via imported honey or bees wax, but no one is sure
Bees are so inmoprtant to the whole ecological balance of the world food supplies.
Countries do not want new introduce pests illnesses to destroy their industries , hence restrictions

Well I believe rules and technology and understanding are a bit better today compared to WWII.
What solution do you propose in this example, not allow soldiers to return?
I suggest a good inspection process might work.
Have redeployed from some pretty nasty places with lots of equipment, vehicles and soldiers. A coherent mitigation plan at embarkation and then good inspection and follow on cleaning at disembarkation back home helps mitigate extensively this kind of issue.
The only way to stop threat completely is eliminate all travel, commerce and then also stop global wind and currents. Good luck with that.

[Basil]

Having been involved in a suspect foot an mouth out break some years ago I know the cost to MY country.
Within the last 10 years our pure bee industry has been attacked by the viral mite brought into nz on suspected bees,
If you don't like our standards An regulations then feel free not to come.
This is like demanding to bring drugs into Malaysia it's going no where.
On a personal note, as a New Zealander I would see it as my duty to report any illegal importation of livestock etc into nz.
I would suggest I have the support of100% of the NZ an Aust public.

Sorry you don't make the rules an the pacific is not the area for you.

[deblen]

Every foreign country has it's rules.
https://www.cdc.gov/importation/brin...united-states/


http://www.pettravel.com/immigration/Turks_Caicos.cfm

[Lowrider]

Originally Posted by Basil

MY country.

[Madwand]

Can't tell if you can't read or are just intolerant of questions.

Originally Posted by Uncle Bob

If you don't like it, just don't go.
If you do not understand the requirements, educate yourself or go elsewhere.

The OP said the requirements are literally impossible to comply with. Where did he say he didn't want to follow the rules or like them? Is he not trying to educate himself by asking here how people dealt with the regs?

[dgordon11]

Originally Posted by Uncle Bob

Other countries have their regulations regarding many things, for those that believe that the way that they do things in their own country is the way that they will do so in another country ,regardless of the wishes of the government of that country, you are demonstrating the most selfish and ignorant of attitudes.
As a comparison, some countries operate motor vehicles on the left hand side of the road, would you deem it appropriate that the residents of those countries continue to do so when they are in places where the reverse is the case? No I thought not, they should conform to the rules of the country they are in, not where they are from. If you don't like it, just don't go.
If you do not understand the requirements, educate yourself or go elsewhere.

Uncle Bob, thank you so much for your thoughtful reply. As it happens, I DID follow the rules. The rules changed. Several times. According to an island concierge for boaters I have hired, TC is in the middle of a government change and as a result the rules for dogs and cats into Turks are in flux.

Here is the full story for anyone who cares to read it: We are moving our 53' Trawler from Florida to St. Thomas, where we also have a home. The dogs are MOSTLY in the VI, which is a Rabies Free Island. We brought them with us to Florida and as they are boat dogs, decided to take them with us. I FIRST applied, according to the rules, for the permit in Florida and per the RULES, asked the USDA in Gainesville to stamp the vet certificate. Complication #1 is that at the time TC required entry within 14 days of receiving the certificate. Not possible when travelling via boat. Complication #2 was that the USDA refused to stamp the Vet cert because we are travelling through the Bahamas versus direct from the US to Turks. I also had to get the Rabies Titers, which I did, and paid extra for a STAT delivery bc Turks requires the Titers to be a certain "age" before they will accept them.
SO I could not get the stamped vet cert. I applied anyway and was told, nope you have to get the stamp. I CALLED TC Agriculture dept, and they reiterated that need. I called again the next day and explained the Bahamas wrinkle and they said, oh the last person was new, yes you need a vet certification from the Bahamas. Do I need it stamped? I asked? No you do not. But, it has to be within 7 days of arrival. ( remember before it was 14 days. )
OK so we arrive in Nassau and I get the vet to come to the boat and do the cert. We make our way down the Exumas, all is well, meanwhile I am waiting for the permit and they deny it again, oops, we need the cert stamped by the Ag department in Nassau, where we left a week ago.

So, while we are at Staniel Cay I contact the boaters concierge and she knows everything about Turks, and she says do not even enter TC territorial waters with the dogs without the permit or they will impound them, then you have 24 hours to get them out or they will euthanize them.

I had a vet from Nassau fly down to George Town, as there is no vet here, do ANOTHER certification, fly back to Nassau, and we have been waiting over the weekend for the Bahamas Dept of Agriculture to approve the cert, when I will, hopefully on Monday, apply again with the stamped vet cert AND yet another NEW permit application. This one says it must be used within 72 hours of receipt. Seriously. Now if we hit a weather window this is doable at 9 knots. But we are looking at 20-25 knot winds and 5-7 ft seas next week. (of course this last week the weather was perfect. Typical! )

If for some crazy reason they refuse to issue the permit again, then I will have to fly the dogs out and my husband and one other will have to bring the boat down the rest of the way.
Bypassing TC is not an option for us as we are a power boat and don't have enough fuel to go straight to the DR.

Of course, if I had known ahead of time what a crazy ride this would be, we would have flown the dogs from Florida straight home, but we didn't, and we knew we would be gone 3-6 weeks and that is a long time when you love your dogs like children.

So that is the story.

I post this not to necessarily defend against those who are just the judgmental types, but to hopefully prevent others from the same frustration.

Peace.

[dgordon11]

Originally Posted by Madwand

Can't tell if you can't read or are just intolerant of questions.



The OP said the requirements are literally impossible to comply with. Where did he say he didn't want to follow the rules or like them? Is he not trying to educate himself by asking here how people dealt with the regs?

Exactly. Thank you Madwand.

[dgordon11]

Final follow up: The current rules for getting your dogs cleared into Turks and Caicos are as follows:
Blood titers for each animal to certify rabies antibodies, certification of rabies shots, a full inoculation report, an international health certificate from the last country you were in (not the US, unless you are coming direct, unlikely in a boat) -certified by the local vet in that country and stamped by the agriculture department of that country, and that health certificate has places where the vet that inspects your dog or cat writes the most recent worming of the animal which must be within 14 days of arrival. The veterinarian inspection that goes along with that international health certificate must be completed within seven days of arrival into Turks.
All of this may be emailed to the agriculture department in Turks. If they deem all of this to be acceptable then you will receive a permit via email within 48 hours. The permit is good for 30 days. Once you arrive in Turks, you call the agriculture department and their representative will come to your boat to inspect the permit and all of your documentation in person. The representative also will check the microchip for your dog to make sure that it matches the documentation. You will be charged $50 per dog to complete the process.
As an aside, we arrived at blue Haven marina at 4:30 in the afternoon. We cleared immigration but customs had already closed and the agriculture department was also closed. Immigration told us that it was perfectly fine to offload the dogs so that they could P and poop but not to let them wander around until they were cleared the next morning. No one from immigration asked to see our documentation for the dogs that evening. Theoretically, if we had been willing to take the risk, we could've gotten our fuel, offloaded the dogs to P poop and taken off before 7 o'clock the next morning. Being rule followers we of course went through this entire ridiculous process.
in spite of some less than friendly comments I have received from my original question, I sincerely hope that my experience will help others get their beloved animals into Turks more easily and with less stress.

[hellosailor]

Napolean Bonaparte, while being exiled, fell overboard and was rescued by the ship's lifesaving officer: A Newfoundland dog. At 150 pounds (plus or minus 50) they are not small, but they are easily and happily stowed in a space the size of a bathtub.

A little work on YouTube and you will find the Italians currently deploy about 20 of them IN HELICOPTERS with their parajumpers for water rescue. The dogs can save, pull, and tow far better than a human can The French have also found one Newfoundland can tow a lifeboat with 20 people onboard.

In the UK there is also a working group training them for water rescue.

In the Colonies and Canada, they were also routinely carried on board ships for many years. If the ship founded on the rocks and the water was too rough for anyone to swim ashore, they'd tie a rope to the dog, throw it overboard, and when the dog firmly planted itself on the shore, the survivors could simply follow the rope.

I've personally had one pull two adult men out of neck-deep ocean water, despite our best efforts to hold her.

There's a long history of dogs on boats, and while they may be damned inconvenient, there's no excuse for treating them as pariahs and setting up impossible transit rules. They also can make damned good security systems on boats.

Might as well ask the incoming sailors for HIV and Hepatitis tests, to make sure THEY don't infect the local population. A bit more likely than a rabid dog going undetected on a month's crossing.

[CaptsWife]

dgordan11: Thank you for your post. We are planning on leaving the US for the Bahamas early November 2017 and plan to end up in the Rio Dulce before hurricane season in 2018. I am hoping that I can find a good home for my PRT, but as yet, have not. We are still toying with the idea of taking him with us and am just now looking at the regs of each possible country we may enter along our way. T&C may be off our list, nevermind because of pets.......a stay over 7 days is quite expensive in and of itself. Wowza! Anyway, I appreciate your OP and your followup.