Re: Pet shop or stew pot? Is cities helping?

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Posted by Richard Fife on July 06, 2000 at 16:48:44:

In Reply to: Re: Pet shop or stew pot? Is cities helping? posted by Olaf Pronk / Centre Soafiavy on July 06, 2000 at 03:21:21:

The US doesn�t export turtles (other than thousands of common wild caught species and red-ear sliders) and tortoise for several reasons. First is the red tape. Olaf is absolutely right the red tape is ridicules. The permit cannot even be started until you are ready to ship and then it has taken me 4 months to obtain one permit. Once after a year of trying to obtain permits (to ship captive bred turtles) my permits were denied.

Second is the cost to export which includes an export license, CITES permits, health certificates, US Fish and Wildlife inspections, Department of Commerce declarations, US Fish and Wildlife Declarations, compliance with IATA container requirements, International Airway bills completed in compliance to federal regulation, freight forwarding fees, and then the cost of shipping. Additional inspections are soon going to be required. These costs can easily be over $300 to export one turtle!

The third reason is that most of the more uncommon species are being bred by private individuals who have little chance of getting through the red tape to export one or two turtles.

Incidentally it is actually illegal to sell or distribute any hatchling turtle or tortoise in the United States as a pet unless you are not associated with a business (what ever that means?). That kind of puts the screws on any serious commercial breeding program in this country (US). It is also illegal to transport any leopard tortoise, African spurred tortoise, or Hinge-back tortoise across any state line (I hope this will change soon).

It is becoming harder and harder to legally sell captive bred turtles and tortoises in the United States. It is much easier (and cheaper) to just strip them from the wild for a few bucks or disregard the law (which gives us all a bad name)!

Actually a CITES appendix II listing should give a country all the control they need over a given species. Unfortunately too many countries don�t have the money to do anything about it. A CITES appendix I listing takes most of the control away from a given country and basically prohibits international trade.

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: The US doesn�t export turtles (other than thousands of common wild caught species and red-ear sliders) and tortoise for several reasons. First is the red tape. Olaf is absolutely right the red tape is ridicules. The permit cannot even be started until you are ready to ship and then it has taken me 4 months to obtain one permit. Once after a year of trying to obtain permits (to ship captive bred turtles) my permits were denied. : Second is the cost to export which includes an export license, CITES permits, health certificates, US Fish and Wildlife inspections, Department of Commerce declarations, US Fish and Wildlife Declarations, compliance with IATA container requirements, International Airway bills completed in compliance to federal regulation, freight forwarding fees, and then the cost of shipping. Additional inspections are soon going to be required. These costs can easily be over $300 to export one turtle! : The third reason is that most of the more uncommon species are being bred by private individuals who have little chance of getting through the red tape to export one or two turtles. : Incidentally it is actually illegal to sell or distribute any hatchling turtle or tortoise in the United States as a pet unless you are not associated with a business (what ever that means?). That kind of puts the screws on any serious commercial breeding program in this country (US). It is also illegal to transport any leopard tortoise, African spurred tortoise, or Hinge-back tortoise across any state line (I hope this will change soon). : It is becoming harder and harder to legally sell captive bred turtles and tortoises in the United States. It is much easier (and cheaper) to just strip them from the wild for a few bucks or disregard the law (which gives us all a bad name)! : Actually a CITES appendix II listing should give a country all the control they need over a given species. Unfortunately too many countries don�t have the money to do anything about it. A CITES appendix I listing takes most of the control away from a given country and basically prohibits international trade.

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