5 replies to this topic

[SuperFrank]

Many other countries have legal avenues to import ants, it is commonly thought that it is impossible to illegally export ants out of the country but it is in fact perfectly legal and quite easily accomplished. After talking to the USDA's export specialist and the Federal Fish and Wildlife service I have confirmed that it is do-able.

According to the USDA, as long as the ants are shipped from a coastal state and do not require interstate transported before leaving the country, their office would not require any sort of permit.
I assume if you want to move them interstate you would need to apply for a 526 permit or something similar. I live in Florida so I haven't looked into it.

The FWS would require a standard commercial wild life export license (one time fee of $100) and each shipment would need to be declared, shipped from a specific port, and inspected by a customs officer, the inspection fee would be $186 for each shipment.

Tl;dr legal exportation from the U.S. is easy but costs $200-300 in export fees

Edited by SuperFrank, August 9 2020 - 1:09 AM.

[drtrmiller]

According to the USDA, as long as the ants are shipped from a coastal state and do not require interstate transported before leaving the country, their office would not require any sort of permit.

 
It is possible the person you talked with does not fully know how international shipping works, or that ants can't survive a month's long voyage on a ship. Most international air shipments are flown to large consolidation centers in other states.
 
I know USPS has an international sort facility in Miami, but it is far from guaranteed than any USPS Express International mail shipped from Florida wouldn't be routed to the sort facility in New York.  The sort facility has more to do with the destination country than the origin state, so shippers from California, for example, simply wouldn't be able to meet the requirement you outlined for shipping to Europe, but may be able to ship to China and parts of east Asia.  Floridians, in contrast, would have difficulty shipping to China, but may have trade lanes open for shipping to Europe.

Other carriers have less robust international networks and more centralized hubs compared to USPS.  For example, I believe DHL consolidates all international shipments at a sort facility in Ohio.  UPS and Fedex also have international sort facilities located in places like Kentucky and Tennessee, respectively.  It's therefore impossible to guarantee the ants won't cross some state border once a package is tendered to a common carrier.
 

...and each shipment would need to be declared, shipped from a specific port, and inspected by a customs officer...

Shipping by sea is out of the question for ants.  Most ants aren't going to survive 1-2 months in a box in summer without any care.

[Domagoj]

You still need to import them on the other side, which is usually the tricky bit, and the reason behind all this red tape.

It's not like a few ant queens are going to be missed in the origin location. It's that they may be a few too many at the destination location.

[SuperFrank]

You still need to import them on the other side, which is usually the tricky bit, and the reason behind all this red tape.
It's not like a few ant queens are going to be missed in the origin location. It's that they may be a few too many at the destination location.

It's not that tricky at all, it's expensive but that's about it

[SuperFrank]

According to the USDA, as long as the ants are shipped from a coastal state and do not require interstate transported before leaving the country, their office would not require any sort of permit.

It is possible the person you talked with does not fully know how international shipping works, or that ants can't survive a month's long voyage on a ship. Most international air shipments are flown to large consolidation centers in other states.

I know USPS has an international sort facility in Miami, but it is far from guaranteed than any USPS Express International mail shipped from Florida wouldn't be routed to the sort facility in New York. The sort facility has more to do with the destination country than the origin state, so shippers from California, for example, simply wouldn't be able to meet the requirement you outlined for shipping to Europe, but may be able to ship to China and parts of east Asia. Floridians, in contrast, would have difficulty shipping to China, but may have trade lanes open for shipping to Europe.

Other carriers have less robust international networks and more centralized hubs compared to USPS. For example, I believe DHL consolidates all international shipments at a sort facility in Ohio. UPS and Fedex also have international sort facilities located in places like Kentucky and Tennessee, respectively. It's therefore impossible to guarantee the ants won't cross some state border once a package is tendered to a common carrier.

...and each shipment would need to be declared, shipped from a specific port, and inspected by a customs officer...

Shipping by sea is out of the question for ants. Most ants aren't going to survive 1-2 months in a box in summer without any care.

The USDA agent I spoke with was an export specialist and as such I feel confident in her evaluation of the situation and that she knows the ins and outs of international shipping.

They definitely won't be shipped via boat, sorry if my wording makes it appear that way. They require shipping from a coastal state to prevent interstate transport. But they are shipped by plane.

They are routed to an an inspection facility (i.e. Miami) when they are declared as live animals for international export, they package must be reported to the FWS so they can physically inspect the ants in question

Edited by SuperFrank, August 9 2020 - 5:52 AM.

[SuperFrank]

I've noticed in this hobby there are a lot of naysayers. I've been told that international shipping is illegal and with a few phone calls and emails to the relevant government offices I have found out it isn't.

I was also one of the first people (that I am aware of) that actually applied for a PPQ 526 form for interstate transport of ants and had it approved. At the time the general consensus within the hobby was that interstate shipping was also impossible, but all it took was actually asking the people on charge instead of random people on the internet.

So yeah when the USDA and FWS, the two federal offices in charge or interstate and international animal movement tell me that it is legal and doable I believe them.

Edited by SuperFrank, August 9 2020 - 2:04 PM.