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Comment by nzmsv | Hacker News Reader

This is likely less about rabies and people moving with their beloved pet, and more about protecting US-based breeders. The price difference for purebred dogs (and cats) can be as much as 10x inside the US vs outside. I know people who specifically traveled to get the pet they wanted at a discount.

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There is thriving business by various rescue groups that are importing dogs. They can charge as much under the guise of travel costs and vetting. There is no reason to import STRAY dogs from other countries while there are millions of dogs in local shelters unadopted/rescues and are being euthanized daily.

This is about rabies. It's a horrible disease, the stuff of nightmares for three thousand years.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabies

And the chicken tax is about chickens. Cute velociraptors that cluck and lay eggs. Even though it is actually about installing fake seats in trucks. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_tax

And condescension is about pretending the other person is dumb and explaining to them that the sky is blue and water is wet.

And American superiority is about somehow assuming that people in other countries don't know how to vaccinate against rabies.

People are importing dogs with forged rabies certificates. This isn't some conspiracy to gouge dog lovers.

Well, not a conspiracy exactly, but I seriously doubt that someone paying $2000 for a puppy would refuse to pay $100 for all the necessary shots and an international veterinarian pet passport.

Why are they going abroad in the first place? Because the same puppy goes for $20000 in the US. $3000 (with vaccines and round trip flight) is still less than $20000.

This is not in any way theoretical by the way. People do this. Most will still go to the vet and comply with all the regulations once in the US. They are just looking to save a few bucks.

Sorry for being condescending.

I really don't know anything about the international dog trade so I can't comment on what people would or wouldn't do. (Twenty thousand dollars for a dog? Does it talk or grant wishes or something!?)

My response was more based on the hope I have that the CDC hasn't been compromised by the profit motive over their mission to prevent disease.

That kind of money (and I'm approximating here) is for a dog with all the documents and one that can be used for breeding (not neutered/spayed). So in a way it's an investment.

I'm very skeptical of the motivations in this case. Many countries use disease control as an excuse to implement economic policies. I doubt that the US is immune.

> That kind of money (and I'm approximating here) is for a dog with all the documents and one that can be used for breeding (not neutered/spayed). So in a way it's an investment.

I see.

> I doubt that the US is immune.

Ugh, that pun! I'm slain. :)

Glad you enjoyed it :)

I'm not into purebred dogs myself, just heard about this. One other thing that breeders must do is periodically "refresh" the gene pool. In order to do this they track down other breeders with dogs/cats of the same breed but with distant lineage (so usually in another country) and buy an animal. I've heard stories of an inexperienced breeder buying a puppy whose parents actually came from a kennel in the same town (and of course paying a ton to import said dog). You can imagine how much this new regulation is going to hurt the gene pool of the purebreds.

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