Day 2 at Wandsworth Dog Control!

Hey everyone!
So today was day #2 of my human's experience at Wandsworth Dog Control centre.
On today's schedule was: a visit to Heathrow Airport's Animal Reception Centre a.k.a the ARC! When my human arrived at 9am, she had a short discussion with the dog wardens about her previous day and then they drove down to Heathrow Airport to have a look around the ARC. The ARC is the place where all animal exports stay while they're in transit and where animals stay in quarantine. Once she arrived, she spoke to one of the workers at the centre about what the visit involved and learnt about the transition structure for organisms from one country to another. The worker was very well informed and my human was surprised to learn that even dead animals have restrictions on being brought into countries!
After the short meeting, my human was taken on a tour around the centre where she was introduced to some of the building's temporary tenants. First of all, she met a gorgeous Rottweiler who was going to be travelling to America- what a long way! The animals are cared for very well at the centre no matter how many there are in there at a time to make sure that their transition is as smooth as possible. On some of the centre's busiest days, as many as 150 animals make their way through the doors of the centre! Afterwards, my human met some Boa Constrictors (not going to lie, she found them pretty scary!) as well as many other creatures including chameleons, turtles and toads! At the end of one room was a sleepy little porcupine known by the staff fondly as Mr. Porky. Apparently, Mr Porky was a grumpy porcupine but such a character!
Although my human didn't go into the quarantine section, there was enough time to have a quick look around it. The quarantine section often has larger animals than the exports section and occasionally welcomes horses, tigers and even elephants! As these animals have sometimes come from parts of the globe classed as 'higher risk' for having rabies, all the staff must be vaccinated against it in case they come in contact with any animal with the contagious disease. Better to be safe than sorry!
Before the animals are taken on board the plane, they are put in a large, sturdy crate where they will remain for the duration of their flight. The animals that are travelling to Australia and New Zealand have their crates lock extra carefully with a metal wire as these countries have strict guidelines on how animals are entering each country; if the wire looks tampered with on arrival into the country, the animal is forced to stay in quarantine for 3 months in case of any germs getting inside to prevent disease in the country.
My human had an excellent time at the ARC; thank you so much to the centre for having her!
Talk soon, Jasper x
For more information on Heathrow's Animal Reception Centre, click here