DEFRA has suspended the commercial import of dogs, cats, and ferrets if they originate from or have been dispatched from Belarus, Poland, Romania, or Ukraine, until 9 July 2022.

Commercial imports are the sale of or the transfer of ownership of a pet animal. This includes rescue animals and if you are travelling with more than five dogs, cats or ferrets if these animals are not attending training for a competition, show or sporting event.

This will have an enormous impact on Forget Me Not Reading Rescues.  We work towards a brighter future for Romanian Rescue dogs. This ban has caused huge issues with our rescue partners in both Romania and Germany who cannot take in any more rescue dogs until they are able to send the current ones to the UK for fostering and rehoming. These animals suffer terrible cruelty on the streets of Romania which is a very threatening and dangerous place for them. We need DEFRA to reverse this ban which they continue to increase the deadline date on so that we can get on and find these poor animals forever homes.