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Snake Smuggler

M

mjdglobal

New member
I was just on Yahoo and read this article (sorry, I don't have the link), A Brazilian man was arrested at Orlando's airport when it was discovered he was hiding 27 snakes inside of some stereo speakers. He had purchased these animals at the Daytona show. He was caught with a Ball Python, 7 boas and 19 color morph Corn snakes . Sorry if this is old news but it is the first I've heard about it and I figured I'd share. The thumbnail to click on to the article is a cool picture of some corn morphs but the article itself just shows a picture of the culprit.

Mitch
 
what does fish and wildlife do with seized animals? i know it says an undisclosed care facility, but what does that mean and for how long are they held there?
 
codymi said:
what does fish and wildlife do with seized animals? i know it says an undisclosed care facility, but what does that mean and for how long are they held there?
Click to expand...

It is a very good question Cody. One must of us would like to know. Especially the breeders he bought from I imagine.
 
I think returning the snakes to the breeders would be the right thing to do in a situation like this (if they can be found, identified etc.). I would be pretty pissed to discover that an animal I produced was handled this way. There's a thousand ways these snakes could have been injured or killed. We all know how gentle baggage handlers are.

Mitch
 
This was not is his first rodeo, so to speak.

It's a real shame, the breeders had no idea what his plans were and I feel bad for the animals. I hope they end up in happy homes.
 
I narrowly missed being involved with this. I am just glad Mateus was truthful about how he was going to bring the snakes home. I was not comfortable with the idea and was sure he was going to get caught and the snakes would be confiscated. I declined the sale. He seemed like a really nice guy and I wish he had explored legal exportation.

So- when I give new buyers the third degree- it's not personal, but it is to ME!!
 
What a wonderful step for conservation!

I am SO happy that our government is spending our tax dollars to MAKE SURE that all of those colorful, captive bred, RARE AND ENDANGERED, boas, balls, and corns won't be exported to another country, and so cause them to go extinct in their native lands. (sarcasm, in case you can't tell, lol!)

Yes, I agree that it is not a good idea to smuggle snakes - because you can get caught and you and the snakes may suffer as a result. But NOT because there is any reasonable, logical, or moral reason not to transport captive born, harmless reptiles. If the gov't used logic and made it reasonably easy to transport them, there would be no need to smuggle them. And then they could get their cut in permit fees or taxes, too. Win / win for everyone.
 
No kidding. Instead of spending all that money to catch people smuggling cornsnakes, they could be raking in fees. Sounds like a win-win situation to me.
 
I have legally exported corns a number of times over the years. What a red tape mess for something totally harmless and captive born! And they aren't even CITES - that would be much worse! And it certainly isn't just the US.

If you want to send them to France, for example, you have to find a US vet close enough to you to do the vet health certificate - AND who will sign the documents IN FRENCH! No translations allowed! So you end up just sending them to Germany instead, and let the customer deal with crossing the border (it is often easier to do that, even going to Canada, because the animals then belong to the customer and it is no longer a commercial transaction). Just a bunch of stupid rules that have no root in logic - or in helping the economy by supporting more commerce. And of course, each country has their own bureaucracy that is different from each other country so that it is complicated even further.

I am sure other industries have similar problems with red tape and over regulations, too. And we wonder why the economy is suffering!
 
You know, I also had a chance to export to Canada this year. The buyer had an importer who would take possession of the snakes in the US and then transport them across the border with all the proper paperwork. I just wanted to send them to a FedEx office up in NY, which I had shipped to only a few weeks before, so I knew they would take snakes and it wouldn't be a problem. But the importer wouldn't make a 17 mile drive to get the snakes. I'm not sending babies off to a person I don't know, to a "warehouse," to be picked up who knows when- just not doing it. At least if they went to FedE there would be a way to recall them if something happened. But- 17 miles! That's how far I drive to _my_ FedEx to drop them off!! Sheesh.
 
Glad you wern't involved in this, I would love to know what they do with the snakes as well. I hope they don't sit, and are found new homes or are able to return to the breeders they came from (if they even try to do this). I drive about 30minutes to my FedEx hub to pick up my reptiles, I'd rather do that then let them sit in a truck in my heat... yay Texas, lol.

So when I start shipping this will be how far I have to go to drop them off as well, they seem to deal with reptiles which makes me happy because they wern't bothered by a LIVE REPTILE box at all and handled it in a way that made me trust them. I don't know if I'd ever Export, just because I'm not sure on everything about this.. but if I ever tried I'd do everything legally.
 
You know what else bugs me- speaking of wastes of tax dollars. A friend of Kathy's, who I recently met, told Rich and I a story of his friend, who was driving home from Florida to somewhere up north, and happened to get pulled over in Georgia. One thing led to another and the next thing you know he's in jail because he has cornsnakes in the car. (Can't have them in GA). Okay- so they are obviously captive-bred snakes, the guy isn't a GA resident- yet he ends up in JAIL, overnight, and wasn't allowed to make a phone call, so his wife is FRANTIC. Now he has to go to court! I thought some provision of the Lacey Act allowed a 14 hour window of transport across state lines, or something. Nonetheless, why did that even happen? So USARK was contacted- for snake-related legal help, and they didn't even bother to respond.
 
§ 3372. Prohibited acts

(b) Marking offenses

It is unlawful for any person to import, export, or transport in interstate commerce any container or package containing any fish or wildlife unless the container or package has previously been plainly marked, labeled, or tagged in accordance with the regulations issued pursuant to paragraph (2) of section 3376(a) of this title. ((2) The Secretaries of the Interior and Commerce shall jointly promulgate specific regulations to implement the provisions of section 3372(b) of this title for the marking and labeling of containers or packages containing fish or wildlife. These regulations shall be in accordance with existing commercial practices.)


§ 3377. Exceptions

The provisions of paragraph (2) of section 3372(a) of this title shall not apply to the interstate shipment or transshipment through Indian country as defined in section 1151 of Title 18 or a State of any fish or wildlife or plant legally taken if the shipment is en route to a State in which the fish or wildlife or plant may be legally possessed.

******************

So, it would appear that if a person is transporting cornsnakes through Georgia, enroute to a State in which they may be legally possessed, that is legal, as long as they are in a container labeled in accordance with existing commercial practices.

******************

ECFR Title 50 Section 14 describes regulations for marking wildlife shipments.

Option One

(i) Conspicuously marking the outside of each container or package containing fish or wildlife with the word “fish” or “wildlife” as appropriate for its contents, or with the common name of its contents by species, and

(ii) Including an invoice, packing list, bill of lading, or similar document to accompany the shipment which accurately states the name and address of the shipper and consignee, states the total number of packages or containers in the shipment, and for each species in the shipment specifies:

(A) The common name that identifies the species (examples include: Chinook (or king) salmon; bluefin tuna; and whitetail deer) and whether or not the listed species is venomous; and

(B) The number of that species (or other appropriate measure of quantity such as gross or net weight).

The invoice, packing list, bill of lading, or equivalent document must be securely attached to the outside of one container or package in the shipment or otherwise physically accompany the shipment in a manner which makes it readily accessible for inspection;
 
Nanci, the Lacey Act doesn't apply to corn snakes in GA. They aren't on the Lacey Act. GA has it's own state laws that govern what to do when someone is caught breaking that law.
 
It governs interstate transport of wildlife. The wildlife doesn't have to be CITES listed.
 
Nanci said:
It governs interstate transport of wildlife. The wildlife doesn't have to be CITES listed.
Click to expand...

You are right. And since I can't find Georgia's laws in print, I guess this discussion is over for now.

My theory, though, is that Georgia has it's own written repercussion for dealing with people who violate their law, and if it's more strict than the Lacey Act then it doesn't matter what the Lacey Act says. The stricter law wins.
 
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