J’can student flees Ukraine but remains with cat in Europe

Cites dissatisfaction with MOAF import requirements for pet

DESPITE the dilemma being faced by the Jamaican student who left Ukraine but wishes to return home with her cat, she has decided to seek alternatives as she is dissatisfied with import requirements for her pet.

The young woman’s cat is not being allowed to enter Jamaica at this time due to high incidence of rabies in Ukraine.

But, she has made it clear that her pet is already protected with the necessary shots to prevent it from spreading the disease.

“Victoria [the cat] has all her vaccines, microchip and documents. Despite that and early inquiry, this is the verdict that I’ve received. I will not put her at risk to be put down or killed when I arrive in Jamaica. I’m in safe grounds, outside of Ukraine, I’ll figure it out from here. Safe travel to everyone else, thank you for understanding,” the young woman said in a post via social media platform Instagram.

Commenting on the matter, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Senator Kamina Johnson Smith indicated that arrangements have been made through the head of the Veterinary Services Division regarding the cat’s potential journey to Jamaica.

“There happens to be a set of German veterinarians in Jamaica at this time and linking through him and the JSPCA [Jamaica Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals] and the veterinary community, we have identified someone who can assist with placement of the cat at a facility in Germany, where she would be able to go through the different stages necessary for her to travel to Jamaica. So by now, they should have contacted her by e-mail to let her know the contact information of the person who can assist and we do hope that the family will be able to take up their services,” Johnson Smith said on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries issued a press release noting comments via social media in regards to a Jamaican student returning with a cat from Ukraine in light of the ongoing war crisis in that country.

“The Veterinary Services Division has advised that on February 28, 2022, it received an application for an import permit for the importation of a cat from the Ukraine. This request was reviewed, not only against the background of the extraordinary humanitarian crisis existing in the Ukraine, but with due consideration given to the animal disease status of that country, particularly as it relates to rabies,” the release said.

“The Ministry of Agriculture notes that in the last half of 2020, the Ukraine reported 551 cases of rabies, of which there were 392 cases in domestic animals and 144 cases in wild animals. Additionally, in the first half of 2021, there were a total of 501 cases of rabies in the Ukraine, of which 263 were cases in domestic animals and 94 cases in wild animals. In this regard, the Ukraine can be categorised as a country in which rabies is not controlled and is therefore high risk,” the ministry added.

Further, the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries stressed that the importation of dogs and cats into Jamaica from approved countries is governed by the Animals Diseases and Importation Act, 1948 and the Animals Diseases (Importation) Control (Amendment) Regulations, 2017.

It said with regards to movements of dogs and cats from a high-risk country to a rabies-free country, entry for those pets are denied.

Additionally, in cases where such movement is considered, such pets must spend at least six months or more in a low-risk country before being allowed entry into a rabies-free country.

Transporting dogs and cats from rabies-affected countries to other countries that are unaffected, they should satisfy pre-export requirements which include being individually identified by microchip and vaccinated against the rabies virus with an approved inactivated vaccine.

The young woman is among Jamaican students who had gone to Ukraine to study and found themselves in the middle of a deadly war after Russia invaded Ukraine early on February 24.

Twenty of the students arrived on the island on Wednesday.

SAVANNA-LA-MAR, Westmoreland — By the second week of March, a multi-agency meeting should be held to map out a plan to ensure that crime-plagued areas of downtown Savanna-la-mar will get the most out of social intervention initiatives planned to complement the zones of special operations (ZOSOS) put in place in early January.

During a recent tour of several communities in the area, Minister of Local Government and Rural Development Desmond Mckenzie lauded police and soldiers for the gains made under the ZOSO but stressed that the social aspects cannot be ignored.

“My visit this morning along with JSIF [Jamaica Social Investment Fund] and other support staff is to look at the next phase and that next phase is to now give a different look to the community,” said the minister.

Acknowledging that communities in downtown Savannala-mar have been neglected for years, he assured residents that change will be coming soon.

“We’re going to be meeting in a week or so with a multitask team to look at and to structure the programme for the community. Many [residents] said they have been waiting a long time, they have heard the same story before, [but] we have a different driver now at the wheels. We have a Government now that is committed to responding to the needs of the people. We are not here on a political mission, we are here to bring social renewal to the people of this part of Central Westmoreland,” Mckenzie said during a February 25 visit.

“I want to ask [residents] to be patient because things cannot happen overnight. There is a process. But there are some low-hanging fruits that we will attend to immediately when we get the approval, like getting the National Solid Waste [Management] to come in. We passed some areas [that] residents use… as a dump heap; we are going to deal with that,” he added.

“The Government will be responding in a meaningful and positive way to ensure that the peace and stability and the improvement of the social and living conditions of this community are upgraded. It is going to take some time, but we are starting now and that start will definitely bring some results,” he promised.

Mckenzie said based on what he has seen in other areas, he is confident that the planned social reforms will benefit Savanna-la-mar.

“The ZOSO is in about five areas, including in my constituency, and you can see the improvements — [and] not just in the physical structure. Apart from coming to maintain law and order, dislocating criminals, and returning sanity to the community, social intervention is the way to go,” he stressed.

JSIF’S senior manager for social development, Mona Sue-ho, said the tour provided vital information that will be useful in determining next steps.

“It has been a good tour and it has given us information to guide our planning going forward. It is going to be a multi-agency approach… and of course the needs will certainly require a number of agencies to all participate in a joint plan. The meeting will take place within the next seven working days, then we will define our priorities and… move forward,” said Sue-ho.