Pounds and Pounds of Paperwork

 "It’s a joke in the zoo business, a weary joke, that the paperwork involved in trading a shrew weighs more than an elephant, that the paperwork involved in trading an elephant weighs more than a whale, and that you must never try to trade a whale, never.”

-         Yann Martel, The Life of Pi

      Zookeeping is a highly-regulated profession, and few aspects of it are more highly-regulated than the transport of animals from one facility to another.  Mr. Martel may be joking in the quote above, but not always.  The amount of documentation needed to transport animals between zoos can range from a) almost non-existent to b) a back-breaking heap which can take years to complete (literally years) to c) anywhere in between.

       The first piece of documentation drawn up at many zoos is internal paperwork - basically, the zoo staff deciding among themselves whether or not to acquire or send out a specimen.  This prevents impulse decisions (always a good idea when tigers or bears are involved) and makes sure that the animal staff, administration, and vets are all on the same page.

      The next step is usually a contract between the sender and receiver to clearly establish the rules of the transaction.  Is it a donation?  A sale - and if so, at what price?  A trade - for what?  A loan?  In that case, is it an exhibit loan, in which the receiving institution agrees to not breed the animal?  Is it a breeding loan, in which reproduction is the point, what are the terms?  How is the ownership of offspring divided among the institution that owns that mother and the one that owns the father?  Males to one, females to the other?  Even-numbered to one, odd-numbered to the other?  What other requirements might be in place?  AZA member facilities, for example, often have explicit rules in their contracts about the disposition of animals, which aim to keep them out of the pet trade or hunting industry.

As an extra complication, some animals are owned by government agencies, either domestic or foreign.  All bald eagles and red wolves in the US, for example, are owned by the US Fish and Wildlife Service.  Rodriguez fruit bats are owned by Mauritius.  Golden lion tamarins are owned by Brazil.  Giant pandas are owned by China.  These government agencies have their own rules and regulations.  For bald eagles, for instance, the US government forbids holders from engaging in behavior that suggests commercial use.

      If the species is a potentially invasive one, extra permits may be required to assure government agencies that the animal will not escape in transit, as well as that it can be securely contained at its new facility.  That's why some species, such as raccoon dogs, are so uncommon in US zoos - the government fears that they could become invasive and limits their import.  The taxa which most of these laws and regulations pertain to - plant-eating insects, which have the potential to become serious agricultural nuisances.  These animals and other similar species require a separate permit to house, and in this case yes, the permits can weigh more than the animals.  This is a reason that so many zoo and aquarium invertebrate collections are biased towards spiders and scorpions.

      If you are talking about an international transport, there are CITES permits to obtain.  If the species is just on CITES Appendix II, you require an export permit from the sending country.  If it's on the more regulated Appendix I, you also require a permit from the importing country.  These permits are meant to ascertain that the receiving facility has the ability to successfully care for the animal, that the transport will not fuel the commercial trade in endangered species, and, above all, that the transport will not prove detrimental to the wild populations.

      Even if your transportation is only within the US, states may have their own requirements.  This is especially true when the transport involves either native species or those which could carry diseases that could impact agricultural species; birds are often the subject of special requirements due to fears of Avian Influenza.  When doing a ground transport, I make a point of calling every state along the way - both their state veterinarian and whichever agency regulates wildlife - to make sure we are clear to enter.  Some states will just wave you through, especially if it's a zoo-to-zoo transport and if you aren't planning on stopping for anything other than gas and bathroom breaks.  Some have permit requirements that are so tedious that it's sometimes worth rerouting the drive to avoid them.  Of special note is Florida, which actually requires that the animal be transported by someone with hundreds of hours of experience working with that species... in Florida.

      You'll also want to share records on the animal with your transport partner facility - medical records, training logs, feed logs, husbandry notes.  Traditionally hard copies of their files were sent with the animals.  These days, this can all be done electronically using the online recordkeeping software ZIMS or TRACKS, or similar programs.  This helps the receiving facility prepare as much as possible for the animal.

      One of the last pieces of documentation that you will need is the health certificate, signed by a certified vet and verifying that the animal is fit to travel.  The certificate is officially good for 30 days, but airlines will only accept them if they are dated 10 days prior to travel.  Copies go to you, the other facility, the airline/transporter, and the state vets.  During USDA inspections and AZA accreditation visits, this paperwork is all checked on.

      So, transporting animals is seldom just an issue of tossing an animal in a car and driving.  There is a lot of paperwork and prepwork that can go into even the most basic of transactions.  Some simply require a contract and a health certificate, and then are good to go.  For others - well, in some cases it's good to start planning your transport in advance.  Far in advance.