I was just informed that my leopard and 20 others from life-form are not being shipped to the U.S. at this time. It is also my understanding that leopards from Zim, and Zambia are being held up as well in fear of the U.S. fish and wildlife seizures. Any news on this? I will post email correspondence with life-form as well as The Hunting Report when I get a little more time.

From J Price:

The Hunting Report has been following the trophy seizure crisis created by USFWS for some years now. The latest problem the Service has created is that they are demanding that the CITES tag on the animal display not only which number in the quota that particular animal represents, but they also insist the tag show what the full quota is. In other words they want: 58 of 250 or 58/250. This has caused a huge problem. Leopards from Namibia, Mozambique and Zambia have been seized for this reason. I saw a communique from Zimbabwe that they are holding their leopard exports until they can get this sorted out. I am not surprised to see this from South Africa. None of the countries were made aware of this requirement ahead of time and are now scrambling to get the tags remade.

My Zim Leopard from June of this year just arrived this past week with no problems. It sure seems that the USFWS is causing problems however. It's probably best to let it all get sorted out prior to importing them. Mine were on the way prior to the Zim notification popping up.

I currently have an Elephant and a Croc sitting in South Africa for the same reason. It's not the 1st time this kind of thing has happened -- I once had to wait for over two years for a Leopard.

The thing to keep in mind is that the USF&WS is currently being led by anti-hunting zealots and they look for any excuse to confiscate your trophies and destroy them. The regular inspectors are as much pawns in this charade as we are, it's the leadership that's the problem.

The only thing we can do is wait while the professionals in this area sort through whatever new arbitrary "rules" have been handed down to snare innocent and unsuspecting hunters and get everybody into "compliance." When that's done, trophies will flow again un-molested until the USF&WS leadership invents a new device with which to snare the innocent. That's just a reality.

The good news is that Life-Form; Safari Air Cargo; Fauna & Flora; and other of the notables in the trophy import field understand the game and, as long as you follow their advice, you'll be fine. Sooner or later your trophies will arrive. Don't get upset with the people trying to help you and, whatever you do, don't try importing anything against their advice -- you'll just get it confiscated and destroyed.

Meanwhile, you might take the opportunity to truly appreciate John J. Jackson III and Conservation Force with a financial contriubution. They have been our primary defense against a rogue government agency for many years and they are always in the forefront of resolving whatever arbritrary new rules the bureaucrats invent to try and punish hunters for enjoying life without permission from the political left. They do amazing work and without them international hunting would soon die an agonizing death as import of trophies becomes impossible.

Hello Gents,
This is not only applicable to Leopard but any species with a quota ie Elephants and Crocodiles as well.

We have asked our CITES Authority to clarify the issue - It seems US F & WL want the number of animals "exported thus far" in the current calender year including those covered by the current permit. ie if your leopard tag is ZW500 - 122/2011 that needs to be shown but also if your leopard is number 156 exported this year that also needs to be shown. How this information is obtained at the time of permit issue is any bodies guess especially when we have many exit ports.

My understanding is that out CITES Authority has written to Washington to ask for a 12 month "grace " period but the response is pending.

My advice is to ask your exporting agent to send copy documents ahead of a pending shipment and get the importing agent to get clarification from F & WL if your paperwork is acceptable or not.

Watch this space !

Andy Hunter