*UPDATE FROM APSCA*
Dear Partner Shelters,
Our ASPCA Relo team did some investigating on how to comply with last week’s memo from the Washington State Vet Office regarding their updated health certificate requirements surrounding small animal interstate TO Washington state. In that memo, the WA State Vet Office relayed that the downloadable APHIS Form 7001 will no longer be valid as an acceptable health cert for small animal transport.
Speaking at length with both the California and Washington State Veterinary Offices, the WA State Vet office has recognized how difficult it will be for transporting organizations & vets (especially in CA) to comply with their updated health certificate policy. They’ve recognized that, currently, there isn’t a viable alternative for small animal vets in CA to create electronic health certs for small animal transport. The WA State Vet Office has reassured us that they are looking into a solution that will eventually allow small animal transporters & vets to comply with their updated health cert policy. Until the WA State Vet Office makes an announcement regarding feasible alternatives, they’ve reassured us that the downloadable APHIS Form 7001 is still OKAY to use.
Summary: For the time being, CA vets and transporting organizations are okay to send small animal transports using the downloadable APHIS 7001 Form until we hear of any updates from the WA State Vet Office.
For direct information, here is contact information for the WA State Vet Office:
(360) 902-1881; bjoseph@agr.wa.gov (Dr Brian Joseph, State Vet)
(360) 902-1889; jjones@agr.wa.gov (Jodi Jones, Division Coordinator)
Please read on if you want the additional details on this situation.
There isn’t a feasible option for alternative health certs for CA vets right now because:
- The free mCVI is not available for CA vets yet.
- The free WA eCVI (as well as any paper copies of this form) is only for use by WA vets.
- The free APHIS platform, VSPS, currently does not have “small animal” option, so it cannot be used at this time.
- Large animal (livestock) paper health certs that the CA state vet office issues and distributes for free is a viable alternative (under species to be transported, you would select “other” and write in “canine” or “feline); however these large animal health certs can only be ordered by a USDA accredited category 2 vet (large animal accredited). Most of our shelter partners do not have a USDA accredited category 2 vet, so this is not a feasible alternative for most of us either.
Please let me know if I can help you with any additional questions. We will be sure to update you of any additional information we learn.
Chumkee Aziz, DVM
Senior Director, Shelter Medicine
Shelter Outreach
Original Post:
Dear Partner Shelters,
In an effort to remain compliant with individual state requirements for small animal interstate transport, we are alerting out shelter partners about an updated requirement when participating in interstate transport TO the state of Washington.
The State Veterinary Office of Washington recently announced that they will no longer accept the downloadable APHIS Form 7001 as a valid health certificate for interstate transport of small animals. Please see memo: https://agr.wa.gov/FoodAnimal/AnimalHealth/Docs/MemoToAllStatesNoLongerApproving7001.pdf
Hard copy APHIS 7001 forms can still be used but are not easily accessible. The WA State Vet Office is instead recommending the use of electronic forms that will generate unique certificate identifiers when created and will continue to require a USDA accredited veterinarian’s signature and ID #. Here is information about acceptable alternatives forms: https://agr.wa.gov/FoodAnimal/AnimalHealth/Docs/MemoToWAAccreditedVetsNoLongerApproving7001.pdf and here is detailed information on these acceptable alternatives: https://agr.wa.gov/FoodAnimal/AnimalID/ElectronicCertificates.aspx.
When speaking with the WA State Vet Office, they relayed they will give transporters a window of time to become compliant with this policy change as they understand it will take time for organizations to adapt.
Thank you. Please feel free to write to me if you have any questions. Dr Aziz
Chumkee Aziz, DVM
Senior Director, Shelter Medicine
Shelter Outreach
