By HIROYUKI MAEGAWA/ Staff Writer
April 19, 2022 at 18:44 JST
A cat evacuated from Ukraine stays at a shelter for pets in Poland on March 30. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
Pets that Ukrainian evacuees bring with them to Japan can remain with their owners during the mandatory quarantine period if certain requirements are met, the agriculture ministry said on April 18.
Norio Kumagai, a high-ranking official of the ministry, said he hopes the policy “makes the life of the evacuees staying in a foreign country to flee the war at home more comfortable, if even only by a little.”
Under the exception, when an owner can prove their pet is microchipped, has been vaccinated twice against rabies and has antibodies, the government will issue a certificate for the owner allowing them to take their pets out from a national quarantine facility.
Owners will be asked to observe their pets’ health twice a day and report it once a week.
When walking their dog, the owner will also be asked to keep it on a leash and prevent it from being near other canines.
Five dogs from Ukraine entered Japan from March 26 to April 9, according to the ministry.
There have been no cats, the ministry said.
The dogs are expected to be returned to their owners from the facility after checking their antibody levels, the ministry said.
As a rabies control measure, Japan has set up a quarantine period for pets to stay at a national facility for up to 180 days.
The government has taken the fact Ukraine is at war into consideration and decided to exempt evacuees from the rules and be with their pets if certain conditions are met, however.
The ministry said a similar exception was applied to dogs working in overseas’ search-and-rescue teams that came to Japan to assist in the aftermath of the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami in 2011.
Normally, such animals can be examined in their home country, but due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the ministry has concluded the evacuees are “under exceptional circumstances” and cannot prepare the required documents and meet other requirements.
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