Dear E-Mail Extra Subscriber Kathi Klimes,



That CITES paperwork problem we told you about in our last bulletin is getting worse. Seems the US Fish & Wildlife Service is soon going to simply destroy CITES trophies that arrive in the US with faulty documents, denying hunters the option of shipping their trophies back to the countries of origin and re-exporting them with documents containing no clerical errors.

The Service has not given a timeframe for when this extreme enforcement will begin, saying only that it is at their discretion. Destruction of what the Service now considers "illegal" CITES shipments (that is, CITES shipments with permits containing clerical errors) conceivably could begin any time this year. We have that from John J. Jackson, III of Conservation Force. US shipping agents hope the Service will permit the re-export of trophies for at least the remainder of this year in order to get everyone accustomed to the new requirements, but there is no guarantee of that. If you have a CITES trophy overseas about to be shipped, it is absolutely essential that you take all possible steps to insure that the CITES paperwork accompanying it is properly and fully filled out.

The best way to avoid trouble is to contact your hunt operator right away and find out who is handling the documentation and shipping of your trophy. Send that person the instructions and sample of a properly filled out CITES export form that we have posted to our web site. See below for the URL. Next, ask that same person to fax or e-mail a copy of your finalized CITES export form to the freight handler receiving your shipment in the United States. Ask him to do that before your trophy is shipped. A reputable US freight agent will know the rules and what to look for on export certificates. Your receiving agent should be able to catch any errors in the paperwork before the shipment leaves the country of origin.

This CITES paperwork problem, by the way, is not unique to the United States. Abigail Day, president of the SCI London Chapter in England, tells us that hunters in the UK have been dealing with this problem for some time now. She says faxing the documentation ahead of time has been a good solution for international hunters there. We are grateful indeed that she shared this information with us. Good luck with your CITES trophy shipments! - Barbara Crown.

Lovely. A typical government solution to a problem which they don't realize is their own Frankenstein creation.

So...who's going to take the USFWS to court?

quote:

If you have a CITES trophy overseas about to be shipped, it is absolutely essential that you take all possible steps to insure that the CITES paperwork accompanying it is properly and fully filled out.

Although, I have never personally imported a CITES animal, I would think hunters do take all possible steps to insure their shipment is legal. I mean, why would a person pay to have an animal shipped if it wasn't legal only to have USFWS destroy it once it hit the US? Sounds like, some of the errors are coming from those not on US soil.

Great. Thanks for posting Kathi.

Hope this gets resolved soon.

How about if hunters only pay for CITES animal trophy fees after they arrive, in good condition. Any takers?

Please: all hunters, alert your PH, dip and pack taxidermist, and shipping company to this problem in case they do not already know.

quote:

Originally posted by yukon delta:
So...who's going to take the USFWS to court?

John Jackson III. He lives for this stuff.

Just wait until something is destroyed that belongs to someone who can do something about it. Of course the Feds have a lot of money and lawyers but it sounds like a lawsuit waiting to happen. Surely SCI is going to get involved. I would rather they spend my dues money on that than on telemarketers calling me to renew.

i am going croc hunting in Moz in Sept. apparently Moz has a CITES quota of croc for export but the US does not require a US CITES permit for import into this country from Moz even though they do require an import from some other African countries.. does anybody have a clue if this situation will affect my trophy shipment home? i was surprised that the US did not require a CITES import permit, only an export permit from the home range country. when the USFWS official told me the this at the SCI convention, i thought he was mistaken but the info sheet he gave me said the same thing. now i am getting worried and i haven't even been on the hunt yet!!

quote:

... Surely SCI is going to get involved. ...

I would certainly hope so!

While they are at it, they could also lobby CITES to review their schedules to be more practical and current. For example, having a baboon listed as a CITES II species simply because it is a primate is a joke. There are millions of these animlas and they are not endangered.

Jerry

Another example. We have no problems at all sending croc (or anything else for that matter - other than ele to the USA) trophies to anywhere, including the USA although crocs are also on CITES II for some reason. In Mozambique croc populations are massive and there are incidents reported every now and them where humans and crocs "cross paths". There are rivers in the hunting area where, if you fall out of the boat, you will not reach the side. You'll see what I mean when you come over ... Endangered species - not quite! Not everywhere anyway.

thanks for the info, Johan. makes me feel better and i am really getting fired up. see you in Sept!!

quote:

i was surprised that the US did not require a CITES import permit, only an export permit from the home range country.

Sounds like the same problem folks are having with mountain zebra out of Namibia. Nothing is required on your part, all of the paperwork comes from the home country.

I guess the only safe thing to do is make sure all the t's are crossed and i's dotted before your trophies ship, regardless of who fills out the paperwork!!!!

Good luck on the croc!!

I have not heard of ANYONE having problems with Hartman's Zebra from Namibia. Quite the contrary!! If the shipper has the export paperwork right from Namibia, then there is absolutely no problem getting them into the USA. Been there, done that.

Larry Sellers
SCI Life Member

quote:

Originally posted by graybird:

quote:

i was surprised that the US did not require a CITES import permit, only an export permit from the home range country.

Sounds like the same problem folks are having with mountain zebra out of Namibia. Nothing is required on your part, all of the paperwork comes from the home country.

I guess the only safe thing to do is make sure all the t's are crossed and i's dotted before your trophies ship, regardless of who fills out the paperwork!!!!

Good luck on the croc!!

jdollar: That is pretty typical of many animals coming out of Africa. The home country will require a Cites export permit, but the U.S. does not require a Cites import permit. Some examples, just from South Africa, that follow that scenario are: White Rhino, Elephant, Crocodile, Lion, Hippo. So, just because a country requires a Cites export permit, it does not mean that the U.S. requires an import permit. It is best to always check with the USFWS if you have any questions or go to their website. Others from South Africa that require both a Cites export permit from South Africa and a Cites import permit from the U.S. are: Bontebok, Scimitar Horned Oryx, Leopard.

Am I getting this right. A U.S. hunter spends $15,000.00 plus for a Leopard hunt which is successful. He returns home and finds out some clerk 8000 miles away with a questionable education has made a mistake on the paper work. USFWS takes the trophy (skin) because of this and will destroy it without any other option presented. Sounds to me like the USFWS is just giving the finger to its own U.S. citizens. Am I missing something here??

That is a serious possibility. Whether they will do it or have already done it is unknown. If I had trophies inbound, I would be on the phone to my state representatives and senators...no question about that. I would also be talking to SCI and USFWS.

A number of years ago, I had a shipment from Zimbabwe that arrived in Miami. While, I had done everything correctly,someone in Zim left out one piece of paper. I had nothing to do with the error.

USFW seized the entire shipment. It took me months and thousands of dollars of legal fees to get it sorted out. They were about to destroy the trophies and assess me a civil penalty that was substantial.

This gives them more ammunition to do something like this. Not good news.

Is there a common problem that is occuring? Someone had mentioned a piece of paper left out. Or are the clerical errors all over the place?
I'm just wondering if there couldn't be something done to make the forms easier or more standardized from country to country.

Bluefin, that's a question of logic and we're talking about international layers of bureaucracy. Wishful thinking I'm afraid.

I wasn't aware of Larry's lawsuit and what troubles me is how much trouble he had with his kind of resources. That means someone like me would not have much recourse. Those non-exportable hunts are looking better and better.

In all seriousness, think about how much discussion we have about trophies, shipments, CITES, etc. That's the majority of our troubles as it relates to Africa.

quote:

Originally posted by Larry Sellers:
I have not heard of ANYONE having problems with Hartman's Zebra from Namibia. Quite the contrary!! If the shipper has the export paperwork right from Namibia, then there is absolutely no problem getting them into the USA. Been there, done that.

Larry Sellers
SCI Life Member

quote:

Originally posted by graybird:

quote:

i was surprised that the US did not require a CITES import permit, only an export permit from the home range country.

Sounds like the same problem folks are having with mountain zebra out of Namibia. Nothing is required on your part, all of the paperwork comes from the home country.

I guess the only safe thing to do is make sure all the t's are crossed and i's dotted before your trophies ship, regardless of who fills out the paperwork!!!!

Good luck on the croc!!

Just posted on June 4th: So, it is happening to mountain zebra, too.

quote:

Originally posted by elkhunter62:
Posted 04 June 2008 02:57 Hide Post
I was just notified today by the customs broker that I am using in Seattle that my trophy shipment from Namibia has this very problem. Included in the shipment is a Mtn. Zebra and block 14 of the CITES form is blank.

USFW will remove the zebra and allow the rest of the shipment to go to the tannery. Then I can at my expense ship the zebra back to Namibia to have the form filled out correctly or allow the zebra to be seized and abandon it. They are waiting for my decision regarding the Zebra before allowing the rest of the trophies to move along.

I am perplexed at this point. This was my first trip to Africa and other than this the entire experience was great. The PH was recommended by friends who went with him before, he had a relationship with a taxidermist to handle dipping, etc. The taxidermist had a relationship with a shipping agent in Windhoek. Anyway someone dropped the ball and now I have to decide what I am going to do. Finding people capable of doing any job correctly seems to be getting harder all of the time.

If anyone has a quick fix idea I would love to hear it. Other than that if you are bringing back a CITES animal heed the advice in Kathi's email and make sure all those in your safari loop understand how to completely fill out the forms.

I think these problems are fairly frequent. In my experience, they range from simple clerical errors to shipping to the wrong place.

To make matters worse, some of these guys have bad attitudes.

I am one of the one's with a shipment stuck in customs in NYC. USF&W was not happy with the leopard permit coming out of Zim, though I've paid for 2 import permits @ $100 each, because one expired waiting for the shipment to leave Zim.

John Meehan at Fauna and Flora assures me there will not be any issue. My shipment is safe and USF&W is not destroying them. They are trying to get the paperwork straightened out.

I can't recommend Fauna and Flora highly enough. I can't imagine the headache of trying to deal with something like this on my own.

Additionally, I'm leaving for Zim again in less than 2 weeks. I have to think twice about shooting another CITIES animal, but John assures me there won't be an issue. Zim is now using the correct forms and shipments will not be held up. I am planning on a croc and my hunting companion is planning on leopard.

Bwanna,

I hope they are correct. We are still waiting for elephant tusks and ears from a March 2007 hunt in Zim.

If they are seized through no fault of ours I don't know what recourse we would have.

Thanks for the update.

FYI

This is a forwarded e mail regarding the cites document issue

Hope that helps.


> We do not destroy wildlife items unless there is a health risk. Our
> seizure procedures are laid out in 50 CFR Part 12 and do not generally
> lead
> to immediate destruction. This would be a very rare case for us. As for
> re-export, the allowance to do so is on a case by case basis depending
> upon
> the facts of the case so I can't give a blanket guarantee that this would
> be offered each and every time. The U.S. hunters are liable under our
> laws
> for a shipment imported incorrectly. They need to discuss the absolute
> need for correct validation with their outfitter/exporter, etc. In
> discussion with many of the countries, we have found that exporters are
> evading the export validation because they do not stop in to get it (since
> customs does not generally play a role upon export). The burden is on the
> exporter to ensure that documents are properly validated, but the U.S.
> importer is strictly liable for an shipments imported in violation.
>
> Sheila
>
> **********************************
> Sheila Einsweiler
> Senior Wildlife Inspector
> Office of Law Enforcement
> U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
> 703-358-1949 (phone)
> 703-358-2271 (fax)
> http://www.le.fws.gov
> sheila_einsweiler@fws.gov
>
>
Cheers