Bordering on déjà vu – Ukraine blocks Russian camels from entering the country

For the second time this year Russian camels have found themselves detained on Ukrainian border. The truck carrying twenty animals to Bulgaria for circus training was stopped on Tuesday.

Ukrainian border guards justified the detention by citing a lack of transit permits. In addition, they alleged that the truck contained fodder which is forbidden for transport through Ukrainian territory as part of measures to prevent the spread of the deadly African swine flu.

The truck was later sent back to the Russian checkpoint to disinfect the vehicle and remove the fodder.

This is not the first time Russian camels have had problems with border guards. At the beginning of the year a similar story took place on the Russian-Ukrainian border, when a truck was detained for two weeks and one animal died as a result of being exposed to freezing temperatures for too long.