Pet owners resisting state's quarantine plan
By Jan TenBruggencate
Advertiser Science Writer
There is little so painful for animal lovers as the forced separation from their pets, which is why Hawai'i's rabies quarantine law is almost universally disliked among those who have brought pets to the Islands.
Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser
Some describe state officials who oversee quarantines as bureaucrats desperately trying to protect their fiefdom in the face of scientific evidence that quarantine is not necessary.
White Cloud does his time at the quarantine center in Halawa Valley. Many pet owners oppose the state's new quarantine proposals.
"The reason for it all lies in the bureaucracy," said Chris Quackenbush, founder of the Community Quarantine Coalition of Hawai'i, which wants to abolish quarantines. "We really don't want any rabid pets here, but two vaccinations and the blood test are enough."
The state is proposing relaxing its quarantine rules by requiring rabies vaccinations and a blood test that proves the inoculation was effective, while adding a 120-day waiting period before the pet's entry into Hawai'i. Pet lovers and some veterinarians argue that modern vaccinations and blood tests are as safe or safer than quarantine in preventing rabies. They say the four-month pre-arrival waiting period is unnecessary.
"Forty percent of animals coming to Hawai'i are (military) service personnel bringing their pets. They don't have that kind of advance notice," said Maui pet owner Tom Molloy.
State officials have been roundly criticized at public hearings on the new rules. Pet owners say they're more than willing to pay for the required vaccinations, blood test and an implanted microchip. But they, along with some experts in the field, say the addition of a waiting period is overkill.
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"The new rules have a very long observation period, and I do not see the rationale for it," said Becky Rhoades, veterinarian and director of the Kaua'i Humane Society, which runs one of the state's approved quarantine stations. "I feel that vaccinations are very protective and work very well."
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But state veterinarian James Foppoli said a specific set of circumstances could put the state at risk for the introduction of rabies. A pet bitten by a rabid bat or skunk a week or so before vaccination could carry the disease but show evidence in a blood test that the inoculation had worked.
"Vaccination after infection of animals incubating the disease does not alter the course of the disease," Foppoli said.
Such an animal could develop symptoms after a month or two, and could bite and infect other animals, he said. The 120 days should be enough to let the rabies develop if it is present, he said.
Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser
The great fear in the Islands is that a rabid animal could come in contact with a mongoose, spreading the disease in the wild..
Snoopy, with three months to go in quarantine at Halawa, visits with his owners, Nina and Doug Bowling. The state proposes requiring rabies vaccinations, a blood test and a 120-day waiting period before the pet's entry into Hawai'i.
State officials completed a series of public hearings Friday, and are scheduled to make their final quarantine recommendations to the state Department of Agriculture at its meeting April 17.
Hawai'i is the only state without rabies. In states where the disease is common, the costs are higher. In New York, close to 3,000 people annually go through expensive, painful treatments after possible exposure. The cost runs into the millions.
Anyone who might have been exposed to the virus — usually from being bitten by a possibly rabid animal — must take a series of injections. If bite victims wait for the symptoms to appear, it is too late. The disease is almost invariably fatal after the appearance of symptoms, which include fear of water, excessive swallowing and paralysis.
Any mammal can carry the disease, even herbivores such as horses and sheep. In many species, the disease makes them aggressive. Animals that would normally flee from humans can attack instead.
"Bats are a real problem on the Mainland because you can be bitten while you sleep and not know it," Quackenbush said. "But cases in which people contracted rabies from pets are so rare, it hasn't happened in years."
Current and proposed quarantine options: • Incoming animals must be kept in quarantine for 120 days if no pre-arrival precautions are taken. (Current rule) • Incoming animals with at least two rabies vaccinations, blood-serum tests for rabies antibodies and ID microchips may undergo 30-day quarantines with 90-day pre-arrival waiting periods. (Current rule) • Incoming animals may undergo five-day quarantines with similar pre-arrival conditions as in the 30-day quarantines, but with 120-day waiting periods. (Proposed)
During 2001, nearly 7,500 cases of rabies were confirmed in animals across the United States, most of them wild animals such as skunks, raccoons, bats and foxes, but also cats and dogs.
Two options now for pet owners
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said there are now only one to two cases of rabies in humans each year in this country, down from 100 cases a year early in the 1900s. Much of the reduction is associated with aggressive immunization of dogs against rabies starting in the 1940s. Today, there are more diagnosed cases of rabies in cats than in dogs, and the agency recommends immunization for cats.
Hawai'i's 120-day rabies quarantine has been in place since 1912, after the disease became prevalent in California and officials feared that it would come to Hawai'i next.
There have been three known cases of rabid animals in Hawai'i, Foppoli said. In 1946, a dog aboard a ship at Pearl Harbor had it after sailing in from the Philippines. In 1967, a dog transiting Hawai'i from Guam at the state quarantine facility was diagnosed with rabies. In the early 1990s, a bat that came off a container ship was found to be rabid. None passed the disease on to other animals.
An erroneous diagnosis of rabies in a rat that bit a child on O'ahu in 1967 resulted in residents voluntarily destroying 2,500 pets.
In 1997, the state allowed a shortened 30-day quarantine as long as pet owners met a series of prearrival vaccination and testing requirements.
Reach Jan TenBruggencate at jant@honoluluadvertiser.com or (808) 245-3074.
