FIVE PUPPIES 'MAY HAVE HAD RABIES'

Tests on one confirmed the disease and experts are analysing the remains of the other four to establish whether the infection was present.

All five animals have been killed by vets after arriving at a quarantine kennel in Chingford, north London.

The dog known to have rabies bit three people at the kennel and they were being monitored by doctors on Saturday.

But Jeremy Robinson, general manager of the kennel, said the three people bitten were showing no signs of ill health.

And he said he was confident that no other animal at the kennel had been infected with rabies.

He said there was no need for public concern and the episode had proved that the quarantine worked.

The kennels are privately owned and run by the Goddard veterinary group. It is overseen and monitored by Defra.

Mr Robinson, who is general manager of the veterinary practice and the kennels, said the kennels generally housed about 30 dogs and 25 cats He said the majority were in quarantine because their owners had moved to Britain from various countries.

Mr Robinson said the five dogs had arrived from Sri Lanka on April 17. He said they had been brought into the country by a charity which rescued dogs from the streets of Sri Lanka and arranged for them to be given new homes in the UK.