Importing pet bird (Pacific Parrotlet)

Family, Education, Health and Pets
1
Hello all, has anyone imported a banded pet bird from the U.S. to Switzerland before? I have a female Pacific Parrotlet who I bought from a breeder in Florida and shipped to California. I kept her for two years there before moving to Zurich at which point my mom (who has other birds) has been petsitting her in Cali ever since (for the last year). I'm now thinking of importing her, but was wondering if anyone had gone through this process. I asked a pet relocation service in the U.S. for a quote and they came back with USD $3,000 to import the bird!!! (While I do love the bird dearly, I only paid USD $300 for her...)

I'm thinking I can do this myself if I just have the rules straight. She is closed banded (proving she was bred in captivity in the U.S. as opposed to being caught in the wild). I tried reading up on the rules here: http://www.bvet.admin.ch/themen/0161...x.html?lang=en

Unfortunately the rules for common pets such as cats and dogs is pretty clear but I'm not sure what I have to do for a pet bird. If anyone could inform me of the process here, I'd much appreciate it! Thanks.

2
What CITES category is your bird? What is the latin name for a Pacific Parrotlet?

We brought our cockatoo from Japan to Switzerland and the cost was nowhere near $3000!

The import certificate from the Federal Veterinary Office is relatively simple and you will need CITES papers. It should all be doable by yourself.

The BVET people are really helpful and e-mails to them to clarify issues are responded to quickly.

3
OK...I did some more research.

A Pacific Parrotlet, aka Forpus Coelestis, is a CITES II endangered species. This means that you will need to get an import permit from BVET (Import permit application for protected (CITES) and non-protected wild animals

and parts or products thereof ) You will also need to check whether the US authorities will need to issue an export certificate .

Also suggest you check this link (specific to birds):

http://www.bvet.admin.ch/themen/0161...x.html?lang=en

You will need to present your bird to a CITES control station within 48 hours of having entered Switzerland.

It all sounds quite complicated at first, but it really isn't...

God luck and if you have any specific questions to which BVET don't answer. Don't hesitate to PM me.

4
Hi Snoopy, thanks so much for looking this stuff up for me. After you mentioned CITES, I went crazy trying to find the information on the web. I did find this: http://www.cites.org/eng/app/E-Jul01.pdf

Is that the right document? It doesn't list Forpus Coelestis in any of the three appendices, but you're saying you did see that species listed, right? I'm not doubting your research as all this stuff is new to me, just wondering what I'm looking at here.

Anyway, I'll definitely take your advice on contacting BVET to see what I have to do. I did see that link you sent but it seemed to be talking about birds from countries other than the U.S., so I wasn't sure I had the right page. Thanks much for your help!

5
Hi

On this page:

http://www.bvet.admin.ch/themen/hand...x.html?lang=de

On the right hand side you will see a link to a pdf called "CITES Arten- Checkliste". On page 131 you will find the Forpus Coelestis. The list format is not that great and can be confusing. It is worth checking everything twice because one thing that we did find was that there is conflicting information around.

The whole thing about a CITES certificate is convincing the people that issue the certificate that you acquired the bird legally and that you (or the person you acquired it from) didn't catch the bird in the wilds. I am sure that whoever is doing it in the US will be more "normal" than the people who were doing it in Japan!

BVET should be able to confirm though if you plead "confusion".