Paying through the nose to take pets on holidays
Pet owners are dishing out thousands of dollars to make sure their four-legged friends are by their side during their holidays.
Garry Walker, manager of Air Care Pet Services, which specialises in arranging international pet travel, said some owners were willing to shell out the equivalent of a business class flight for their cat or dog to fly in the cargo hold.
Walker, who has also booked international trips for his pets, said his company was sending a dog from New Zealand to Melbourne this week where she will be mated with another pedigree - the flight to Australia costing about $900 one-way.
When some people say 'oh that's incredibly expensive, I can fly there cheaper myself' roughly the price is about the same as a business class ticket," he said.
The longest trip organised by Air Care Pet Services was sending a terrier to Russia via Sydney, Dubai and Frankfurt, before arriving in Moscow.
"It took a while, but he bounced out of the crate at the end and said 'Right-o, I'm in Moscow, this is pretty cool'," Walker said. "They do travel well."
Returning home the bill can be even higher, according to Chris Mune, owner of pet moving service Dandy Dogs.
"You're going to be charged GST on the value of the animal, plus GST on all the costs attached to getting it into the country, the vet work in Australia, the airway bill and that can add up to another thousand dollars."
But the big price tag was not enough to put one person off paying Mune's company to organise 25 cats to be flown to Spain. A special sign-off was needed by authorities to let all the felines fly on the same flight.
Walker's company transports about 3000 animals a year, including bearded dragons, turtles, pigeons and rabbits.
He has also arranged for two adult great danes - which can weigh up to 90 kilograms each - to be sent to London.
"You can't imagine how much that would cost. It was, like, mega dollars. That was a lot more than business class tickets," he said.
If an owner wants to bring their pet pal to this country, it may need to sit in quarantine for as long as six months before being given entry, Walker explained.
"If you're trying to come from China or India or somewhere like that where rabies is a real worry, then [your animals has] got to go into boarding in a country where it is under control and that country is normally Singapore," he said.
"You don't normally travel to places like that and take your dog, because it's a bit of a one-way trip."
What do you do with your pets when you go on holidays? Do you think you’d be more interested in taking them with you if
Share your thoughts in the comments section.
Written by Katarina Williams. First appeared on Stuff.co.nz.
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