Quote:
Originally Posted by millertime89
OR just more knowledgeable about the system and the situation than either of you guys. You trust whoever you want to trust, I know Kameron isn't breaking any laws because despite what you guys seem to think there are legal exports in very controlled quantities and conditions.
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Absolutely and I repeat absolutely
not possible to supply the pet trade with exported native Australian fauna from Oz.... all Australian reptile keepers are licensed reptile keepers which can only trade with other licensed keepers. All our transactions are recorded in our private wildlife keepers record book and a census is sent to the respective state governing body annually stating all or any wildlife trading we did. Even if we didn't do a any transactions we still have to send a census stating we did not trade and the numbers of animals in our possession remains the same. This keeps tabs of the numbers of native fauna in each private keepers possession. The return form shows the number of animals bred v traded v died v kept at the time of the census and this is correlated in their system from the numbers we submitted from the same time the year before.
Each time we trade in fauna with other license keeper interstate we need to apply for either an import or export permit depending on the circumstance. This needs to be approved in writing from the state governing body before the transaction can occur with a permit number provided otherwise we would be in breach of our license conditions. We then need in a declaration to the state governing body to confirm that the transaction did or did not occur in accordance to the stipulations we have provided in the import/export permit application.
I made a mistake once of forgetting to send back a declaration and it totally slipped my mind that I hadn't.... till the next time I tried to apply for another permit which was promptly denied with a letter sent back to me (as well as my original hard copy application) stating I was in breach of license conditions and no permits will be issued going forward till this breach was rectified.
I wonder how it would go if I sent in an export application permit with the senders address ending with the acronym USA?
I'm certain I would get a phone call from the Department of Sustainability and Environment.. possibly followed by a site inspection and a inspection of my records book with a microscope. Could be worse I guess I could have a surprise with Department of Primary Industries officers knocking at my door escorted by the boys in blue with warrant in hand to "inspect" the premises.
Now given all given Australian fauna is CITES protected there is
HELL NO WAY any private individual can trade in Australian fauna internationally. For one our customs officials are purposely trained to screen for these items as well as K9s specially trained to detect fauna. Heck anybody that has been to Australia knows what happens if you tell the customs officials you have fruit in your bag... or if that cute beagle sits down next to pretending to ask for a pat.
Therefore when "shipping" any Australian fauna it will undergo stringent inspection of paperwork. Usually these are accompanied by individuals who work for a government agency or a zoological institution as stated these are the only ways that customs will load the item onto the plane. The items and packaging are carefully inspected as it's a long haul flight. It isn't as simple as stuffing tim into socks, then bags, then concealed. This definitely is not a proper/endorsed container to "ship" Australian fauna... or is it?
Of course there are ways around our stringent screening as it isn't fool proof and fauna does leave Australia (as well as come in).... though we call that by a different word around this part of the world.
Care to share some of the documentation for everybody to have a squiz at... just for people to see what a CITES approved document looks like as I'm sure none of us have seen one from the Australian Govt... heck I know I haven't but that's because I'm not allowed as a private citizen to trade in Australian fauna internationally.