Crossing the border!

mettle · 06-08-04, 12:13 AM

Has anyone gone across the Canadian/USA border with herps they bought or had sent to an address on the other side? And if so, how did that go for you? What type of penalties or fines does one face for doing something like this?

Just curious.

Thanks.

Stephan.

Matt · 06-08-04, 06:13 AM

as long as they are not CITES animals you will have no problem.
all you will have to pay is the duty tax coming across....it will be $22 candian for every $100 US you bring back

Classic · 06-08-04, 06:38 AM

When i've come accross, all they wanted to know was what clothing I have purchased and didn't want to see my snakes. It is no big deal. I go in a question the customs officers about the rules and regulations, they really don't even want to dig out the books to try to figure out what is allowed and what isn't. But i've only brought over small colubrids. I have not tried anything that needed CITIES.

Brian

Jeff Hathaway · 06-09-04, 07:16 AM

And once again, I'll say that the responses you get vary from location to location. Canadian customs has very little to do with it, other than collecting the GST, and possibly PST depending on your province. However, it is US law that says all wildlife (yes, this includes CB herps) leaving the US must be inspected by USFWS. If you leave the US without doing this, you've broken US law, and under WAPRIITA, you've also then broken Canadian law.

Now this doesn't mean someone will show up at your door the next day. But you have broken the law, and it certainly could come back to haunt you.

So, to do it legally, contact USFWS at the border crossing nearest you that will do inspections. Not all of them do. Some offices will inspect you without a fee if you only have a couple of things for personal use. Others will follow the official rule that you must buy an import/export license for $50 (good for one year) and pay $55 for an inspection. All of this still assumes no CITES listed stuff.

Oh yeah, Canadian laws make it very tough to import turtles. But that's a whole separate issue.

Jeff Hathaway
Sciensational Sssnakes!!

mettle · 06-09-04, 07:03 PM

Thanks for the info.

I was just curious as I know some people on the US side who have some pretty amazing snakes and I'm not too far from the US border. So yeah. It was an idea.

Thanks again.

Stephan.