[ OUR OPINION ]
QUARANTINE requirements for pets entering Hawaii appear to be nearing an end. A sensible compromise would limit the quarantine period to no more than five days and eventually allow the administration to eliminate incarceration altogether for animals assured through tests to pose no rabies threat to the islands. The proposal recognizes scientific advances without subjecting Hawaii to risk caused by haste. Brief quarantine should
lead to none at all
THE ISSUE The Legislature is considering a measure to reduce the quarantine for incoming pets to no longer than five days.
The state Department of Agriculture soon will schedule public hearings on a proposed administrative rule reducing the present 30-day quarantine to five days for pets that are vaccinated for rabies four months before their arrival and are embedded with identifying microchips. Pending legislation would do away with the quarantine for pets meeting certain requirements, including the microchip, two rabies shots, vaccinations against other diseases, a valid health certificate and a blood test within the previous year.
A short period of movement toward such quarantine exemptions would be consistent with the transition adopted recently in the United Kingdom, which had a six-month quarantine. The British relaxed the requirement three years ago for pets arriving from Europe and extended that policy in December to vaccinated, blood-tested and microchipped pets arriving from the U.S. and Canada. In announcing the change, officials said pets initially could be held two or three days while their papers were verified.
Sandra Lee Kunimoto, the new chairwoman of the Board of Agriculture, prefers that the changes be made by administrative rule, but a new law is needed to keep future administrators from reinstating the quarantine. James J. Nakatani, Kunimoto's predecessor during the Cayetano administration, continued to be a supporter of the quarantine long after scientific findings showed that vaccinations, microchip IDs and other precautions were adequate.
Governor Lingle has expressed understandable concern about the proposed fee for pet owners of $505 for a five-day quarantine. The fee for the full 120-day quarantine is $1,080, and the 30-day term for pets that meet vaccine requirements is $655. The proposal is obviously geared toward paying the current staff, even after the workload has been drastically reduced.
"In cases where pets must be quarantined, the state's goal should be to cover actual costs rather than to make a profit," Lingle said.
A quarantine facility will be needed even after goals are met, because some pets will continue to arrive without the required vaccinations, health tests and microchips. However, the vast majority of incoming pets will qualify for a brief quarantine or none at all, so the state's quarantine facility and staff should be sharply reduced.
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