Leave It To Professionals

Over the course of my career, I have carried out dozens of animal transports, with animals ranging from frogs to waterfowl to primates to large carnivores.  From the zoo that I work out of, I have driven animals into over a dozen states and have personally flown with animals to three others.   I have planned more airplane and mail shipments than I can recall.  I consider myself pretty good at this.  Given the orders to coordinate a panda transport from China, for example, I think I could do it.

There are some transactions, however, where I acknowledge that I am in over my head.  I have never transported, say, a giraffe cross-country.  Largely these are transports that require specialized vehicles.  In such cases, you call for a professional.

There are a small number of professional animal transporters that zoos can call upon.  Sometimes these are transporters who can haul animals for long distances, such as cross-country, which some zoos may not have the time or staff to carry out.  Others may have specialized equipment such as giraffe crates and the vehicles necessary to transport them.  Hiring such specialist transporters removes a lot of the guesswork and challenge in moving animals.

Transport crate at ZooTampa, used for shipping African elephants from Swaziland - no easy transport

In addition to transport, professionals may be consulted to coordinate international transactions, especially those that require complex permits or customs fees.  Especially for a facility that has no experience in doing such transactions and wants to be sure that they aren't running afoul of any national or international laws, a broker can be a lifesaver.

As tricky as animal transports can be, I've thought half-heartedly about going all-in on it.  I've wondered about the possibility sometimes of going into the transport business, coordinating transactions for other zoos.  I've gotten pretty proficient with paperwork in permits over the years, and have wondered about the challenges of doing something really wild, like bringing a super rare animal into the country.  In crazier moments, a friend and I talked about buying a little puddle-jumper and learning how to fly, offering direct flights for animal transports.  For some reason that frightens me less than driving one of those giraffe trailers.