Countryside Alliance Ireland - love the countryside

The European Union has approved the retention of tapeworm controls for dogs entering the UK and Ireland.  This derogation, which takes effect on 1st January 2012, will help keep the UK's dog and fox population free of the killer tapeworm Echinococcus multilocularis. 

In many countries in Europe this tapeworm is rapidly spreading through the fox population and there are growing concerns about protecting the human population.  Unfortunately, in countries where this tapeworm is present, it is simple to become infected; it is only a matter of accidentally ingesting some tapeworm eggs from dog or fox faeces.  

Therefore those who shoot and work in the countryside or own dogs are all key risk groups.

In June 2011 Defra announced that it wanted to retain tapeworm controls for dogs entering the UK, and in July the European Commission published a regulation that would allow the UK, Ireland, Finland and Malta to retain their tapeworm controls.  To read the new regulation click here. 

It was announced that Sweden would not be allowed to retain its controls as tapeworms had been discovered in a Swedish fox that had been shot in December 2010.  It was explained that the wording of the new regulation would be subject to approval by the Parliament and the Council of the EU. 

On 15th November 2011 the final version of the regulation was published in the Official Journal of the EU marking its acceptance by the Parliament and the Council of the EU.  The new regulations will take effect from 1^st January 2012.