FIONA BACKS PET PASSPORTS FOR CATS, DOGS AND FERRETS

12.00.00am GMT Tue 9th Mar 2010

New EU rules will allow family pets to take continental holidays for years to come.

Agreement has been reached to extend the "Pets' Passport" scheme for cats, dogs and ferrets that have been vaccinated against rabies.

British pets are likely to benefit the most. They make up 60% of all the animals in Europe taking advantage of the arrangements.

Liberal Democrat Euro-MP Fiona Hall says that it is an idea that the UK gave to the rest of Europe.

She said: "The UK's Pets' Travel scheme is 10 years old and ended the misery of quarantine arrangements for thousands of pets and their owners. More than 600,000 have crossed our borders since then.

"The arrangements were copied and extended throughout the EU in 2005 and have proved a great success."

Rabies incidents across Europe have fallen from 2,679 cases in domestic animals in 1990 to just 251 in 2008, with none attributable to animals with "passports".

But some EU countries still maintain restrictions. In Portugal, for example, ferrets are classified as "vermin" and may be destroyed by the authorities.

Pets' "passports" are usually embedded microchips that provide proof of rabies vaccination.