Just received this email forwarded to me by my outfitter in Zim from Taxidermy Enterprises regarding my trophies from last year:

Please read the response and comments I have had from Taxidermy Enterprises. Please note that you will all get your trophies, it is a matter of a formality change midway with most of our shipments.

Please contact me if you have any further questions

Keep well and best Regards

Ian

PLEASE SEE E-MAIL BELOW

There is definately a lot of confusion and I believe it is because we may have phrased our e-mails to you a little too loosely! I shall attempt to clear this up:-

The export permit that Zimbabwe has been using for the last thirty years or so is called a CITES permit, and reflects ALL wild animal products being exported from this country. This differs from a U.S. CITES permit which only reflects Appendix I animals i.e. leopard. This is the route cause of the confusion - I and my staff are referring to a permit for all animals and you are taking it to be for leopards only. Please accept my apologies for not being more explicit!

With the introduction of new regulations by U.S. Fish and Wildlife in September last year, which called for additional information to be reflected on exporting countries permits, it became apparent that Zimbabwe's CITES export permit could not accommodate the new requirements and would have to be re-conformed. This is no easy matter, as the new permit has to meet requirements laid down by the exporting and importing countries and then by the CITES Secretariat in Switzerland, which is the controlling body. It does take time. Zimbabwe was granted a six month grace period by U.S. Fish and Wildlife in order to comply.

Before we (Taxidermy Enterprises) actually despatch any export order, we forward a copy of the export permit to the agent at the receiving port of entry and request confirmation from them that the permit is acceptable/meets all their requirements etc. This minimises any problems upon arrival of the shipment - believe it or not Fish and Wildlife officials at the different ports of entry do sometimes differ in their interpretation of regulations. In early March, permits forwarded for perusal in advance of shipment to Dallas and Houston were rejected as not conforming to the new U.S. Fish and Wildlife requirements. Their new regulations would be strictly enforced from 01.04.08.

Subsequent to this, other agents came back with a similar response. Under separate cover for your information I will forward some e-mail correspondence between the agent Coppersmith and Fish and Wildlife in Dallas.

It was at this point that we temporarily halted exports from here whilst we obtained clarification from various authorities, as some agents had advised us that shipments sent with existing permits would be turned around and sent back. I am sure you will agree it would have been foolhardy for us to continue with shipments with this as a possibility.

As it stands today, only New York authorities are prepared to accept shipments accompanied by the existing CITES export permit. Where a client has already been issued with such a permit, we are offering him the option of sending in to New York, clearing through U.S. Fish and Wildlife, and then trans-shipping on to destination. Its up to the client whether he chooses this route or whether he decides to wait for an updated permit. Where an export permit has not yet been issued, we are holding on to applications pending the availability of the new permit. The latest news on these permits is that the draft copy has been ratified by the CITES Secretariat in Switzerland and the permits are now being printed. We hope they will be available within the next two weeks.

It may surprise you to know that I am grateful to you for getting in touch with your congressman. Our Government Authorities sometimes drag their heels in getting things done, and we have been pushing them for months on this permit issue and yet still experienced some delay - we should not have reached a stage where exports had to be halted in their entirety. External pressure usually has the desired effect of speeding things up!

I hope that my explanation has clarified the issue. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any further queries or matters that need clarification, and I will do my best to assist.

Regards,

Marina Jackson
Exports Manager




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Regards, D. Nelson