ins and outs of importing

[rwg]

Hello all,

I'm wondering wha the issues are with regards to importing snakes into Canada from the USA in particular. Can you import native North American species like bulls? Native American species like eastern indigos? Can you import non-native species like pythons etc? What paperwork is involved? What duties and fees (besides shipping) need to be paid? Are orders ever turned away at the border?

I'm really wondering wether I can consider American breeders when looking for snakes.

rg

[Stockwell]

I almost hate to do this but take a quick trip over to Queensnake.ca and look at my posts on the python forum...It will save me typing it all over again... I have an info page over there as well...
Sorry guys, but I just went through all that over there

[rwg]

Thanks Roy...some good info there. It doesn't mention anything about tariffs or duties though, so I was wondering if the permit fees are the only extra fees incurred in the process.

Other Roy

[Stockwell]

There is no duty or tarrifs on wildlife and never has been.
The only charge on the CDN side is GST & PST on the declared value of the transaction. It will be on the Canadian equivalent, so the exchange rate will come into play on both the purchase and on the taxes payable.
The permit fees are generally paid by the individual doing the Us exporting. This could be you if you chose to go that route and apply for the US import/export license, and exception from designated port permit. Canadians will be granted this license & permit for taking herps into and out of the USA at a border port, but the preferred way is to buy from an American that will fly the goods to you.
That way they will have to do all the paperwork and pay all the charges for the license and the inspection, before it will board the plane on an international flight.
It is afterall, US F&W procedure and not Canadian. Most of us that have these licenses only have them because the Americans we are doing business with aren't willing to get it or pay for it themselves. We are also doing fairly high cross border volumes to make it worthwhile.

Importing colubrids is fairly easy as they aren't CITES listed, as are all Boas and Pythons, so that is one less headache.
However you will NOT find it easy to import Eastern Indigos. They are one exception.They are protected in the USA, and are a bit Tabboo.

There are a few good breeders of Couperi right here in Canada, and I know of a couple dozen produced in Ont in 02, in fact many colubrids are bred here, so you might ask around before trying to import from the USA.
If you must import , try to find a Us breeder willing to fly them into Pearson. It will save you a pile of money and stress.