Puppies from Caribbean islands cannot be adopted into American homes if they are less than six months old, the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals ruled.
Bruno Project Rescue and five other plaintiffs challenged the 6-month rule instituted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
While rabies has been stamped out in the United States since 2007, the disease kills 59,000 children per year around the world.
The CDC instituted the six-month rule to avoid a repeat of the reintroduction of rabies into the United States that took place in 1988.
“A dog’s age is most easily assessed after six months, as a dog has lost its baby teeth by that time,” Circuit Judge Joshua Dunlap wrote.
The dog rescuers claimed that the rule damaged their business, as their American customers are less interested in older dogs.
They challenged the rule as arbitrary and capricious under the Administrative Procedure Act. The Massachusetts federal court ruled in favor of the CDC, stating that the rule allows reliable assessments that the dogs are old enough to have an effective vaccine.
The puppy rescuers appealed, arguing that any dog imported from a country that the United States has considered rabies-free would be safe.
However, the 1st Circuit refuted that argument and affirmed the lower court’s decision.
“Plaintiffs fail to recognize that a dog imported from a country that is recognized as ‘rabies-free’ could still potentially have rabies because rabies could have been reintroduced into that country but not yet discovered,” Dunlap wrote.
He added that the rule is not arbitrary because of fraudulent practices in the puppy-import market.
“It is not irrational to conclude that importers may attempt to transport dogs from high-risk countries through countries in the Caribbean, given their proximity to the United States,” the judge wrote. “The CDC has identified instances of fraud regarding dogs transported through other rabies-free countries including Canada and Mexico.”
