S.I. No. 4/1929 - The Importation of Dogs and Cats Order of 1929.

STATUTORY RULES AND ORDERS. 1929. No. 4.ORDER OF THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AND TECHNICAL INSTRUCTION FOR IRELAND.

THE IMPORTATION OF DOGS AND CATS ORDER OF 1929.

(Dated 11th January, 1929.)

The Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction for Ireland, by virtue and in excercise of the powers vested in them under the joint operation of the Agriculture and Technical Instruction (Ireland) Act, 1899, the Diseases of Animals Acts, 1894 to 1914, and of every other power enabling them in this behalf, do, with the concurrence of the Minister for Agriculture, hereby order as follows :—

1 Restriction on Importation of Canine and Feline Animals.

1.—(1) An imported canine animal (hereinafter referred to as "dog") or feline animal (hereinafter referred to as "cat"), that is to say, a dog or cat brought to the Irish Free State from any other country except Great Britain, Northern Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, shall not be landed in the Irish Free State unless its landing is authorised by a licence of the Department previously obtained, and when landed it shall be subject to the provisions of this Order, and to the conditions inserted in any licence authorising its landing.

(2) The provisions of this Order shall also apply to a dog or cat taken from the Irish Free State, Great Britain, Northern Ireland, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man, into any port in any other country (except the Irish Free State, Great Britain, Northern Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man) as if the animal were an imported dog or cat, and also to any dog or cat which has, at any time before or after arrival at a port in the Irish Free State, been in contact with any imported dog or cat as defined in this Order.

2 Detention and Isolation of Imported Dogs and Cats.

2.—(1) An imported dog or cat shall, for a period of not less than six calendar months after its landing, be detained and isolated at the expense of its owner upon premises in the occupation, or under the control, of a veterinary surgeon, which shall have been previously approved in writing by the Department for that purpose, and such premises are in this Order referred to as the " place of detention."

(2) Subject as hereinafter provided, the dog or cat shall not be moved from the place of detention during the said period except to another place of detention or to a vessel for exportation, and in either case only with a licence of the Department authorising such movement.

(3) The Department may at any time suspend or withdraw their approval of any place of detention or of any part thereof, or may by the service of a notice signed by an Inspector or Officer of the Department direct the removal of an imported dog or cat from one part of the place of detention to another part thereof, or to some other place of detention, subject to such conditions as may be inserted in the notice.

(4) This Article shall apply to—

(a) an imported dog or cat which is shown to the satisfaction of the Department to be a bona fide performing animal ; or

(b) an imported dog or cat which is intended to be exported from the Irish Free State within forty-eight hours after its landing; or

(c) a canine animal (other than the domestic dog) or a feline animal (other than the domestic cat) imported for breeding or exhibition or other special purpose:

only so far as its provisions are applied by way of conditions inserted in the licence authorising the landing of the animal.

3 Rules and Conditions of Licence.

3.—The Department may make such Rules and may insert in a licence granted by them under this Order such conditions as they think necessary or desirable for the following purposes:—

(i) For prescribing and regulating the detention and isolation of the dog or cat so far as the same is not prescribed and regulated by this Order :

(ii) for prescribing the person by whom and the premises on which the dog or cat shall be detained and isolated :

(iii) for regulating the movement of the dog or cat to the place of detention, or vessel for exportation, and for prohibiting or regulating its movement after its landing, or until its exportation, as the case may be :

(iv) for prescribing the confinement of the dog or cat in a suitable receptacle during the movement of the dog or cat by railway, or along a highway or thoroughfare :

(v) for prescribing the mode of isolation of the dog or cat :

(vi) for prescribing the muzzling of the dog :

(vii) for prescribing the notice to be given of the death or loss of the dog or cat, or of any matter arising in connection with the movement, detention, or isolation of the dog or cat and the person by whom and to whom the notice is to be given : and

(viii) for prescribing the production of a licence or notice for inspection by an officer of the Department, or Local Authority or police constable, or officer of Customs and Excise :

and in such case it shall be the duty of any and every person concerned to observe the said rules and comply with the said conditions so far as the same are applicable to him.

4 Action in Case of Illegal Landing or other Default.

4.—(1) If an imported dog or cat is not detained and isolated as required by this Order or by the conditions or provisions of any licence or notice thereunder, or if there is reason to believe that a dog or cat has been landed in contravention of this Order, an Inspector or other Officer of the Department or of a Local Authority or a police constable may—

(a) serve a notice upon the owner or person in charge of the dog or cat requiring that within a time specified in such notice the dog or cat shall be moved (i) to a vessel for exportation, or (ii) to a place of detention approved by the Department for the purpose of detention and isolation at the expense of the owner of the dog or cat for a period of not less than six calendar months from the date of landing of the dog or cat; or

(b) seize and detain the, dog or cat: and the dog or cat shall, as soon as practicable thereafter, be removed to a place of detention approved by the Department for the purpose of detention and isolation for a period of not less than six calendar months from the date of the landing of the dog or cat.

(2) Such provisions may be inserted in any notice served in pursuance of this Article as the Department may think necessary or desirable for any of the purposes mentioned in this Order. The Inspector or other Officer or constable shall take such steps as may be necessary to ensure that the requirements of the notice are complied with.

(3) The operation of a notice under this Article may be terminated by notice to that effect given by an Inspector or other Officer of the Department, or of the Local Authority, to the owner or person in charge of the dog or cat on proof to the satisfaction of the Inspector or Officer that the dog or cat was not landed in contravention of this Order.

(4) An Inspector or other Officer or constable shall report immediately to the Department and to the Local Authority any action taken by him under this Article, and the circumstances in which such action was taken.

(5) Where a dog or cat has been seized and detained in accordance with this Article, the owner of the dog or cat shall from time to time as may be notified to the owner by the Department pay to the Department the expenses of the detention and isolation of the dog or cat, and if the owner of the dog or cat fails to comply with this requirement, the Department may destroy or otherwise dispose of the dog or cat as they think expedient without further notice to the owner and without prejudice to their claim for any such expenses payable to them.

5 Re-landing Prohibited of Imported Dogs or Cats moved to Vessels for Exportation.

5.—An imported dog or cat which has been moved to a vessel for exportation in accordance with a licence or notice under this Order shall not be re-landed in the Irish Free State without a licence of the Department authorising such landing.

6 Regulation of Transhipment of Imported Dogs or Cats.

6.—An imported dog or cat shall not be transhipped in a port in the Irish Free State except with the written permission of an Officer of the Department or of an Officer of Customs and Excise.

7 Proceedings under Customs Acts for Unlawful Landing.

7.—(1) If any person lands or attempts to land a dog or cat in contravention of this Order, he shall be liable, under and according to the Customs Acts, to the penalties imposed on persons importing or attempting to import goods the importation whereof is prohibited by or under the Customs Acts, without prejudice to any proceedings against him under the Act of 1894 for an offence against that Act.

(2) The dog or cat in respect whereof the offence is committed shall be forfeited under and according to the Customs Acts in like manner as goods the importation whereof is prohibited by or under the Customs Acts.

8 Detention of Dogs and Cats on Vessels in Port.

8.—(1) Every dog or cat to which this Article applies shall at all times while on board a vessel in any port in the Irish Free State be

(a) confirmed in an enclosed part of the vessel from which it cannot escape ;

(b) or alternatively, in the case of a domestic dog, secured to some part of the vessel by a collar and chain and muzzled with a wire cage muzzle, so constructed as to render it impossible for such dog while wearing the same to bite any person or animal, but not so as to prevent such dog from breathing freely or lapping water.

(2) If any dog or cat to which this Article applies shall die, or be lost from a vessel, in any port in the Irish Free State, the person in charge of the dog or cat shall forthwith give notice of such death or loss to the Secretary, Department of Agriculture Government Buildings, Dublin, C. 17.

(3) The provisions of this Article shall apply to every imported dog or cat which is not accompanied by a licence issued by the Department authorising the landing of such a dog or cat in the Irish Free State.

9 Extension of the Meaning of "Animals" for the Purposes of the Diseases of Animals Act, 1894.

9.—Canine animals and feline animals shall be animals for the purposes of the undermentioned sections of the Act of 1894, viz :—

Sections forty-three and seventy-four (Powers of Police).

Section forty-four (General Administrative Provisions).

Section fifty-six (Proceedings under Customs Acts for unlawful landing on shipping); and also for the purposes of all other sections of the said Act containing provisions relative to or consequent on the provisions of those sections and this Order, including such sections as relate to offences and other legal proceedings.

10 Local Authority to Enforce Order.

10.—The provisions of this Order, except where it is otherwise provided, shall be executed and enforced by the Local Authority.

11 Offences.

11.—Any person committing, or aiding, abetting, counselling or procuring the commission of any breach of the provisions of this Order, or any Rules or the conditions of any licence made or issued thereunder, shall be deemed to be guilty of an offence against the Act of 1894.

12 Interpretation.

12.—In this Order unless the context otherwise requires—

"Canine animal" means dog, all other animals of the canine tribe wild or domesticated, and hyena;

"Feline animal" means cat, and all other animals of the feline tribe, wild or domesticated;

"Inspector" includes veterinary inspector.

"Master" includes a person having the charge or command of a vessel.

"Police constable" includes any member of the Gárda Síochána.

"The Act of 1894" means the Diseases of Animals Act, 1894.

"Department" means the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction For Ireland.

13 Revocation of Orders.

13.—The Orders specified in the Schedule to this Order are hereby revoked: provided that this revocation shall not affect the operation of any licence granted or notice given under any of such revoked Orders before the commencement of this Order.

14 Commencement.

14. —This Order shall come into operation on the first day of February, nineteen hundred and twenty-nine.

15 Short Title.

15. —This Order may be cited as the Importation of Dogs and Cats Order of 1929.

In witness whereof the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction for Ireland have hereunto set their Official Seal this eleventh day of January, one thousand nine hundred and twenty-nine.

F. J. MEYRICK,

Secretary.

I concur in the foregoing Order.

P. HOGAN,

Minister for Agriculture.

SCHEDULE.

ORDERS REVOKED.

(Article 13).