Victorian residents whose pet cats and dogs are stranded overseas may soon be reunited with them following a temporary arrangement negotiated with Qantas Airways.
Minister for Agriculture, Drought and Emergency Management, David Littleproud said the pets could now be transhipped via Sydney to the Post Entry Quarantine Facility in Melbourne while there is no option for them to fly directly to Melbourne.
“The temporary arrangement is great news for Australians with pets stranded overseas due the pandemic,” Mr Littleproud said.
“Pets are part of the family in almost every household in Australia,” he said.
“The Australian Government understands how hard it has been for some pet owners to make the difficult decision to leave their pets behind due to the COVID-19 inflicted travel restrictions.”
Mr Littleproud said Qantas had demonstrated that it could effectively comply with all of Australia’s biosecurity requirements.
“Biosecurity will never be traded off and import conditions must be met in full before any pet can come to Australia,” he said.
“Despite current State Government COVID restrictions our quarantine facility continues to operate and meet demand from pet owners for bookings.”
He said the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment had worked closely with owners, pet transport agents and airlines on arrangements that had safely delivered over 1,200 pets to the Quarantine facility in Melbourne since May.
“This arrangement will allow those pets waiting overseas where there are no direct flights to Melbourne to get home to Australia,” he said.
Chief Customer Officer at Qantas Freight International, Nick McGlynn said pet movements into Australia remained restricted due to the limited number of flights, but the option to use Sydney as a transfer port would go a long way toward helping reunite pets with their owners.
