Doggie vaccinations, dirty tanks

Igor is expected to move to Ukraine around Sep 20th. Since June every two weeks I send an email to Ukrainian Embassy in Den Haag inquiring about required doc's for doggie import to UA. Not one email got a response. I also sent emails to the State Customs Office. No feedback. Few vets I visited in Kiev with a question about how to get a doggie in UA have not been of much help.
Last week I found the number of the Veterinary Inspection at Boryspil Airport. I called yesterday and spoke to a man with a sleepy voice. The guy had not spoke a word of English. I spoke Russian. He told me about vaccination requirements and regulations I have to read. I carefully wrote down every word he said. He dictated a long list of vaccinations. I also went to the website he suggested http://www.vetcontrol.org/ and found Article 71.15 about import of dogs, cats, foxes, rabbits and other animals. The regulations states doggies imported to Ukraine need vaccinations against following diseases:
- pseudorabies - Aujeszky's disease;
- rabies;
- TBC;
- tualremia
- distemper;
- hepatitis;
- canine dermaptophytosis;
- canine viral enterities;
- parvo virus;
- adenovirus;
- leptospirosis;
This was almost identical to the list written down during the phone call with the "sleepy voice" of the Airport Vet Inspection. Looking at the list I wondered if a small doggie can survive such a vaccination cocktail.
The next requirement is that a vet's health certificate has to be legalized by the Dutch authorities and translated to Ukrainian by authorized translator. As I knew where I can get official UA translation I have not worried about it.
What worried me however was a vague statement about the quarantine. But first I wanted to sort out the vaccination list. Some illnesses I recognized but few I never heard of. So I contacted Sandra and Maria and asked if the list makes sense to them. They contacted the vet in the Netherlands who replied:
- pseudorabies or Aujeszky's disease is a disease for pigs; there are no vaccinations for dogs;
- TBC - no vaccinations for dogs;
- tularemia - not known disease for dogs in the Netherlands;
- canine dermatophytosis - kind of a mite common for cows, no vaccination for dogs.
Furthermore Sandra and Maria wrote that the Netherlands and Ukraine officially signed a treaty about animal imports which clearly stipulates all "normal" doggies vaccinations.
So I called Boryspil Vet Inspection today and asked them why a doggie needs vaccinations for pigs, cows and humans. I spoke to a different person today. Not to a "sleepy voice". The explanation was that instructions from yesterday must be my misunderstanding. Hmmm - I recall the guy dictated to me in his sleepy voice all diseases...God knows what he was dreaming.
I asked the person today about the quarantine and the answer was if a doggie has a health certificate - no quarantine. So Igor will fly to Kiev.

My mum is here and today I decide to come home earlier. However the traffic was horrendous. It took me 1 hour to drive home while normaly it takes me 10-15 min. As all streets around my house were jammed mum and I decided to go for a walk. We walked towards the main street and what a sight - the street was jammed with tanks, carriers with rockets, military trucks with some cylinders... What a sight and I am without a camera.
On August 24th Ukraine celebrates the Independence Day so I suspect they had today a "rehearsal" for a military parade. The trucks and tanks looked like from old Soviet movies. Than tanks started to roll. All these tanks and trucks generated such a thick black cloud of smog I thought I would suffocate. I lack words to describe the blackness and acid taste of gases generated by tanks. Due to the heavy black smog the visibility was so poor - if it was not for a thunder of tanks rolling I would think these are some dirty construction machines and I would heavily complain about the carbon footprint. The tanks left the main road completely ruined. I hope it will be patched soon.
With what is going on in Georgia I can understand Ukraine want to show what they have. Perhaps thick black cloud of pollution is a kind of a new strategic weapon.

Last weekend I was in Crimea. Lovely place. I also understand better why my Ukrainian colleagues worry about Russia. But about Crimea - next time.