Animal rights activists have created yet another issue for ag: the spread of disease onto farms.

One obvious concern are the activists who break into facilities to film or “liberate” livestock. They disregard biosecurity measures when they infiltrate a barn at 2 a.m.

But an emerging concern is the spread of zoonotic diseases via animal “rescue.”

It may surprise you to learn that anyone can bring a dog from a foreign country into the United States with very little regulation. And it’s becoming both a big business and a potential hazard for pets and livestock.

More than 1 million dogs are brought into the U.S. every year. The USDA regulates less than 1% of the traffic. One could bring in dozens of dogs at a time, and — as long as you claim they are personal pets — there is little paperwork involved.

The real goal is dog trafficking for profit. The CDC notes: “Many dogs are bred irresponsibly in large numbers in ‘puppy mills’ overseas. Importers then fly them as cargo in large batches, claiming them as ‘rescue’ dogs.”

The source for this situation are the animal rights activists including the whack jobs at PETA and HSUS. They’ve promoted passage of laws nationwide banning pet stores from selling dogs from U.S. breeders. They have also passed laws targeting U.S. breeders themselves. The predictable result has been far fewer domestic breeders and a raft of phony international “animal rescue” efforts filling the 1-million-dog shortfall.

This trafficking can also be harmful to the animals. Dozens of French bulldog puppies died on a flight from the Ukraine to Canada last summer.

More above-board animal rescue can spread disease, too. In 2015, the U.S. experienced its first cases of a disease called Asian dog flu (H3N2). Dr. Edward Dubovi, a Cornell University virologist, tracked the introduction of this disease to animal rescues from Asia. An outbreak affected 1,300 dogs in Chicago. The disease has subsequently spread to other parts of the country.

In 2019, dogs brought to Wisconsin from Korea brought canine brucellosis with them. And another case in Canada introduced a new strain of distemper.

Ag is also at risk. A 2019 article in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association flagged animal rescue as a potential risk for the spread of African Swine Fever. Many “rescue” dogs are coming from China, where ASF has ravaged the pork industry.

We shouldn’t wait until an outbreak hits a farm to act. The National Pork Producers Council has taken notice and is considering the issue a top priority at its spring Legislative Action Conference.

This is an opportunity for ag to build an alliance with the pet industry against a shared foe, animal activists.

Groups including the American Kennel Council are pushing the bipartisan Healthy Dog Importation Act, introduced last year in Congress, that would require better health screening and tracking.

It’s a good first step to dealing with the activist-created problem. A coalition between conventional ag and pet groups would be a powerful force in undoing the economic incentives that have created a black market for international pet trafficking. That would support both production agriculture and American pet breeders.

The animal rights lobby has never been afraid to ally with environmentalists, labor unions and even political conservatives when it suits their interests. It’s worked for them — and there’s no reason it can’t work for us.

An opportunity to hound the activists

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