I believe this will be the receiveng broker in the U.S. for our animals. Does anyone have experience with them? Good, Bad, or just plain Horror stories. I know very little about receiving trophys back into the U.S. any help would be appreciated.

I used their services once in 2003 and now have my 2005 shipment in transit with them as well.

It has been a very enjoyable experience dealing with Mr. Meehan / Fauna and Flora. They are unusually quick to respond to questions and everything was delivered exactly as promised.

Contact John Meehan with your questions and concerns.

My experience has been with the Ocean cargo shipping scheme only but I can't imagine that their service differs on the air cargo too much.

I understand that we are paying someone to do something that we could be doing ourselves [clear the trophies through Customs and USF&W, and Dept of Ag]. But the alternative involves a trip to an entry port and some work that may be more efficiently done by them. Depends on where you are and what your time is worth I guess.

Contact John by email in the morning with your questions and time the response. My initial request for a quote and his receipt confirmation [not automated] took 19 minutes. followed by a phone call from him within the hour. Not bad these days!

Les

Excellent

They were very efficient when I used them last year.

They were very efficient in '02 and '03 when I used them last. I plan on using them again this year. Everything was cleared and shipped to my Taxidermist with no hitches.
Robert

Living where I do they are the logical choice for me and I have used them several times. They work in conjunction with SACS and have always provided top notch, door to door service.

I used them a year ago. I had four crates brought back. I did not have any problems at all. There was no verbal problems as I had with the first brokerage firm that I had used, and no paperwork problems either they took care of everything. Very fast turn around and delivery, after the trophies got here. This firm is very good to work with.

No problem with them at all. John Meehan is a first class guy. They will work with you on a "housebill" if several of you are together where Carol at Coppersmith will tell you it is illegal just to be able to charge more money. I have done this several times and each time the forwarder used Coppersmith, told me what she said, and yet John Meehan made it happen and legally. Some make like Coppesmith, I do not.

Stay with F&F

I just used them for Ocean cargo from Zimbabwe. They were very good to deal with. No surprises. I will use them again.

I follow-up w/F&F a few weeks after the shipment leaves Africa, to check the status and make sure they have the correct address for inland shipping. If you provide an airbill number, they can track shipment. Otherwise, you'll hear from them w/costs when the trophies have about cleared and are ready for forwarding or pickup.

Here is what F&F charged me, excluding shipping, on a shipment received last month:

- Breakbulk Services $80 (this is based on weight, my crate was ~155lbs)
- Carriers Certificate & Release $25
- Terminal handling $25
- Customs Entry Service Fee $225
- Special Messenger Service $20
- Reforwarding Service $25

TOTAL = $400.00

Edit: Note F&F does not charge more for multiple crates. Fee is $225 for the first hunter, then $75 for any additional.

I highly recommend Fauna & Flora. As said above, John Meehan is a super nice guy and has always provided me with excellent customer service.

Uplandhunter:

I used Fauna & Flora back in 1993 to import a buff through the Port of NY. I cannot say enough in paise of this outfit. (I even visited their office and was treated like visiting royalty. All questions were patiently answered. I was reassured not to worry about this or that. They were just simply great. I remember how, after the buff cleared and had been sent on to my PA taxidermist, I was told that nobody had asked for the crate to be opened - except Dept. of Agriculture -to check for spraying. They also told me that I might like to know that whoever crated the buff did a great job!. I was told how many buffs often arrived with horn tips broken off because of poor crating)

I am happy to add my name to more recent users of Fauna & Flora in praise of this outfit. ( BTW, since this IS St. Patrick's Day, I'm happy to read all the praise for Mr. Meehan!)

Uplander used him in 02 and now he will be receiving my shipment in a month or two...

Will be speaking to him this weekend in Pa at a Lehigh Valley SCI fundraiser...

Want me to ask him any questions....

Mike

How about sea freight to the Left coast. Are they doing that?

Crane,
If you are talking about Sea freight from africa, then I will come to NY and then be trucked to the west. If you are talking about freight from Down under....I have no idea but guess they do not do anything. I think they try to focus on New York Port only. Give John a call to be sure.

I would not use them, as in 1998 when my trophies from my '96 safari I had done in RSA (wouldn't do that again, either) were shipped I specified they go to Atlanta; instead, F&F got ahold of them and I had to pay an addition $800 to have them trucked down from NY.

Just received my trophies through them a couple weeks ago. Very professional to deal with. I was very anxious to recieve my stuff, and they had no problem calling to find out the status, etc. I am sure they get lots of those calls.
I would recommend them, but having only done one overseas hunt, I have nothing to compare to.

My trophies from Zambia just hit my taxidermist a few weeks ago using F&F and everything went perfectly.

I've used them twice and coppersmith once. F&F was good on the communication, paperwork and because they worked with my taxidermist, had reduced rate shipping here in the states via UPS ground. I'd use them again.

My question would be how do they handle the shipment if a problem occurs.
Didn't Ann of Aspen Hills get worked over by him to the tune of a few hundred dollars after John took possesion of her trophies that were headed to another taxi in NJ?
I do not claim to know the intimate details of this but I have heard a few rumors.

I've used their services twice, and they handled things perfectly.

George

quote:

Didn't Ann of Aspen Hills get worked over by him to the tune of a few hundred dollars after John took possesion of her trophies that were headed to another taxi in NJ?

This is correct, he has done this to me twice now.

I have no problem with F&F if a person wants to hire them to handle their shipment. I'm sure Mr. Meehan does a very fine job.

I don't need his services and yet have been forced a second time now to liberate my trophies and pay a lot of extra money. I was just charged somewhere's in the amount of an extra $500 PLUS (probably closer to $600) to get my Zim shipment last week.

The very ugly details may eventually get posted if "someone" doesn't pay me back. My crate was marked Newark, not JFK.

No more details for now as this is not a happy situation for me at all.

Ann,

Is the shipping company following your wishes when it sends the shipments to the USA?

Seems like it would be hard for a New york broker to be involved if they had sent the trophies to the proper place.

I do not remember all the details of your previous incident, but twice seems something is seriously amiss!

Les

Ann, hope to see you at the Flint SCI next week. Will say hello if I see you. I am curious as LHowell is. Who messed up, the shipper or F&F? I had something like that happen on a TZ hunt a couple of years ago. My trophies came into Houston instead of Detroit. My Safari company I booked with SwanScan paid the extra costs as they had made an error in the Dar Es Salam side on where to ship. Curious who is at fault in your case.

My shipping instructions were ignored even though the crate was properly addressed and I made it clear I would pay my freight before the crate left the dark continent.

We photographed the crate upon arrival and there is a wonderful email trail. Many people here would be seriously offended by what was written in these emails. I hope to resolve the situation with out posting them but I will post if I have to.

I was ignored so other people could make a lot of money. It was very expensive for me and in my opinion, just hurts the industry.

Again, I'll state, if you want to hire a broker, more power to you. Just don't FORCE it when it is not wanted.

I used them last year and everything was handled firat class. I've used three diffent companies and this shipment went the smoothest, including getting several hogs and a leapard cleared.

I can't say enough good about them. Of the hunters that have gone with me to Africa, the ones using other companies have had problems, and the rest of us (using flora and fauna) have had none.

Would like to share with you that my chapter of SCI sponsored a Disabled Veteran hunt to Africa three years in a row. After the first year when Mr. Meehan heard of the undertaking, he (quietly) volunteered his services the next two years to take care of all trophy shipping matters. Wouldn't take a penny from us and never asked for fanfare.

In my book he's a stand-up guy and it's a stand-up outfit.

I've personally used F&F three times and will use them on my next trip!