Being technically incompetant and slow server speeds, I couldn't find the original post on the problems getting trophies out of Zim. I said I would follow up and the reply is below.

Taxidermy Enterprises have forwarded your e-mail of the 1st September 2005, to us for comment on Mr. Foden's shipment. We wish to advise as follows.

We originally quoted Mr. Foden's shipment to the port of New York (a fish and wildlife designated port of entry).

Mr. Foden then requested that his shipment be sent to Hartford.

We advised Mr. Foden that Hartford is not a designated port of entry.

Mr. Foden advised us that he had had a previous shipment from Spain, travel through Atlanta (fish and wildlife cleared in Atlanta) and then sent onto Hartford for customs clearance, with a fish and wildlife permit filled out, applied for by Mr. Foden. We then provided Mr. Foden with a quotation to Hartford as per his instructions, and told Mr. Foden that American Airlines could carry the cargo and their routing would be the following:

Johannesburg to London Gatwick
then London to either: NEW YORK, BOSTON OR CHICAGO (all 3 designated ports) and depending on space availability by American Airlines etc at the time, but shipment traveling through either one of the above fish and wildlife ports.

We dispatched the shipment as per Mr. Foden's request, and I have attached the flight details sent to Mr. Foden.

As far as I can ascertain, what has transpired here, is that the Fish and Wildlife inspectors, or airline, did not perform the necessary fish and wildlife inspection in New York, and the shipment was forwarded to Hartford, and as a result, had to be sent back to Boston for the inspection. I am also attaching another e-mail from Mr. Foden whereby he instructed us to send to a fish and wildlife port, and then onto Hartford. We have followed all instructions, and unfortunately, when sending to a non designated port, we cannot ensure, in the absence of an agent at a designated port, (and Mr. Foden was insistent that he did not want the shipment to go to an agent at a designated port, and that he would customs clear the shipment himself), that the airlines will carry the necessary inspections out (and this is not the function of the airline). This is why we only quote to designated ports of entry, and advise clients of the necessity of sending to such ports accordingly, as there is no control to ensure inspections are done.

We have never been made aware of any problems, when the shipment got to Hartford, and had to be sent back to Boston for a fish and wildlife inspection.

It is unfortunate that the inspection did not take place, however, this situation was beyond our control.

To date, neither Taxidermy Enterprises or Worldwide Logistics were notified of the problems, until such time as you notified us of the complaint on the web.

Your comments would be appreciated.

Best regards,
Denise Crichton
Worldwide Logistics
Johannesburg, South Africa
Tel + 27 11 608 0905
Fax + 27 11 608 1003

Ganyana,
Have to comment on Taxidermy Enterprise/Worldwide Logistics as I recently received mt Trophies from them. Although I was not happy they were sent through London/Dallas to Atlanta, I could not be happier with the service. Yes it was more expensive than the estimate, the shipping crates were much larger than they thought. Bottom line is Taxidermy did an outstanding job on my animals, shipping dept. packed them to withstand the long journey (no damage). Price on shipping was high, but in the end it was still less than having skins shipped here, then having mounting performed. My recent post on the quality including tanning should show that having trophies mounted and ship from Zim does work.
bobga

When all is said and done, it will cost about $1500 and up.

You can try to buck the system (shipping direct to a non-entry port destination) but you just wind up wasting time and money.