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Comment by hirundo | Hacker News Reader

It includes India, China, Indonesia, Pakistan, Brazil and Russia, or most of the world by population. The largest nation in population not included is the U.S. itself. The next largest is Mexico at #10. So 8 of the 10 most populous countries are on the list, and one isn't eligible.

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> Probably most of the dogs too

TFA says that those countries represent 6% of dog imports.

So where do imported dogs come from? Canada?

Also,

> Hundreds of these dogs had fraudulent rabies certificates,

Isn't this most easily fixed by requiring a post-immigration rabies shot?

I assume it's mostly people who treat their pets as children, which is largely a Western phenomenon. So, yeah, Canada's probably a large source, as would be most of Western Europe.

We're talking about people that are moving? You don't have to treat your pet like a child to take it with you when you move...

The counterpoint I'd use is the way my grandparents treated their dogs: they were working animals, not pets. Never to be let in the house; their job is to watch the sheep in the barn or the fields, and being in the house is counterproductive for that. And, presumably, if you were moving transoceanic, you'd just get new guard dogs at your destination just like you'd get new sheep at your destination.

"not even a pet" is a level all on its own.

If it is a pet, an extra hundred to couple hundred dollars is not much compared to all the other costs of moving. Just vaccinations and neutering could be as much for a replacement.

I know some working livestock dogs; they'd be upset to be taken from their herd, they wouldn't be to worried about switching people.

Probably people moving to the US from places like Europe (which is quite big, even though the individual countries in it are small - I know the US press used the small size of individual countries to play some slimy games with their Covid-19 related comparisons from time to time).

There's, apparently, a really interesting world of dog importing. I wonder if this was the paper that prompted this decision.

http://www.naiaonline.org/uploads/WhitePapers/USDA_DogImport...

I think you will find that dog (pet) importation is more highly correlated with higher income, thus while the highest population countries are listed, in % wise, higher migration will be from Europe.

In outside the covid pandemic, I think you will find that there is significant international travel for breeding and show purposes. Additionally, while I am unsure of the cost in the US, in a place like Australia the quarantine costs to bring pets into the country make it something more likely to be done by wealthier migrants.

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