Animal Import/Export Laws

Van Beal

Van Beal

Well-Known Member
I’m posting this out of curiosity about what kind of laws are in place and why so many places restrict import or export of certain animals but not others?
 
There's a lot of reasons here. For the US a prominent one is the Lacey Act which deals with known invasive species such as momgooses and the Raccoon Dog. It's in place to prevent species known or likely to cause serious ecological damage if feral populations establish.
Some countries like Australia, New Zealand, and Ethiopia consider their wildlife very valuable and forbid all exports except for occasional specially approved circumstances. Similarly Ecuador heavily monitors for illegal wildlife removal from the Galapagos, and they mean business about it.
Sometimes species are blocked due to potential zoonotic risks, such as African Pouched Rats likely having brought monkeypox into the US some years back.
 
Alright thanks for that clarification. Just curious (and I’ll probably look into this more on my own) but where can I see exactly what the guidelines of these acts and restrictions are, if there is a location to see them?
 
I’ve done some research on Canada’s specifically.
If you are importing animals to display in a zoo. The importing facility has to be a CAZA accredited zoo and the exporting facility (if it is a zoo) must be AZA accredited. Animals have to go through testing, certification (not 100% sure what that means) and some other government appointed regulatory stuff.
 
Due to the seemingly ridiculous exotic pet trade, lax animal welfare laws, and a handful of recognizable rarities kept in zoos people seem to assume Japan just let's any animal enter the country. However that is not true.

There are biosecurity laws regulating the import of relatives of livestock, vectors of rabies and other diseases, invasive species, and their relatives.

I will post some links of the customs page along with the most recently updated list of invasive species:

Bring Animals：動物検疫所 (you will have to scroll down to find the specific procedures to import animals)

https://www.env.go.jp/content/900452906.pdf

I also cannot find an official English source of this listing but on the official website of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestries and Fisheries of Japan (Chapter 10, Article 54) the following animals are listed and therefore cannot ever be imported into Japan:

Prarie dogs (due to plague)
Raccoon Dogs, Ferret Badgers, and Masked Palm Civets (due to SARS)
Mastomys/Multimammate Rats (due to Lassa virus)
All species of Bats (Due to Nipah Virus and Lyssaviruses)
Primates are also listed but they have some weird exemptions which could be found in the first link

So species that do not have a sustaining population in this list are doomed to be phased out or are already gone from Japan.
 
Australia (and New Zealand) are highly stringent with regards to what species can be imported - with the aim of protecting the country from risks to its biodiversity (introduced species have become rampant pests in both countries) and threats to the agricultural industry (a primary export).

A general bird import ban has been in place since 1949, so exotic bird species are greatly limited. We’re down to a handful of Andean condors - which consist of a elderly sibling pair and their offspring.

The outbreak of BSE closed the curtain on imports in the late 1990’s. An Import Risk Assessment has had to be completed to allow the import of Bovidae species and an IRA is still in the works to allow the importation of hippopotamus and giraffe in Australia (an IRA was recently completed for giraffes in New Zealand).

Felids and primates can be readily imported, but many species such as those in the Suidae family are likely to face a permanent ban and the consequence has been several species have either been phased out or are highly inbred.
 
Great Argus said:
Google is a helpful tool for simple questions like this - you'll often get a faster answer instead of waiting for someone to see your post and choose to reply.
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Oh no I’m aware that Japanese Raccoon dog are a thing. I was simply curious about the inclusion of raccoon dogs on the list of illegal imports in Japan.
 
What about importing live Altai argali from Mongolia for a zoo or safari park? They are MASSIVE wild sheep from the Altai Mountains in Central Asia. I know they can be imported as hunting trophies.
 
Cody Raney said:
What about importing live Altai argali from Mongolia for a zoo or safari park? They are MASSIVE wild sheep from the Altai Mountains in Central Asia. I know they can be imported as hunting trophies.
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Most likely exceedingly difficult, if not outright impossible. I suspect that the US livestock industry would be a significant barrier.
 
I'm out and about this evening so can't contribute in more depth at this time (though I'm happy to do so if there are follow-up questions) but a LOTTTT of it has to do with diseases that are either zoonotic (transferable between animals and humans) or that could have an impact on the American livestock industry.

A lot of importing/exporting in Europe is currently under scrutiny because of foot-and-mouth disease, which could have extremely devastating consequences if it hit North America with an outbreak. This is different from hand, foot, and mouth disease. For a recent example, in Hungary and Slovakia this March, a confirmed FMD case was reported in a cattle farm in Hungary. 1400 animals were promptly culled. The first detection was on March 8th. By the 21st it had already spread to 3 additional cattle farms; a fourth by the 25th, a fifth by the 26th. It has also led to a lot of European bans on both live animal import/exports and animal product trade.

I've already written more than I intended to lol. TL;DR is that animal diseases of agricultural significance are a major factor in import/exports. FMD is of particular concern right now when it comes to ruminants.
 
Some places have restrictions on importing certain species because they are invasive or have the potental to become invasive. The US for example has the Lacey act which bans certain species (such as raccoon dogs) from being imported into the country to prevent them from becoming invasive. The EU also has a list of species that cannot be imported into the EU because of them being invasive.
 
The_Leopard_Seal said:
Some places have restrictions on importing certain species because they are invasive or have the potental to become invasive. The US for example has the Lacey act which bans certain species (such as raccoon dogs) from being imported into the country to prevent them from becoming invasive. The EU also has a list of species that cannot be imported into the EU because of them being invasive.
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The Lacey Act, upon some research I decided to conduct myself and simply to expand on your point, labels 785 species as "injurious wildlife," according to the US Fish and Wildlife Service website. A couple inclusions I found a bit surprising: all 65 members of the Pteropus family of fruit bats, and the only reptiles (with the exception of the Brown Tree Snake Boiga irregularis) being constrictors (I expected that some chameleon species and exotic lizards would make the list).

For those who might want to take a look at the whole list, the link is here: Summary of Species Currently Listed as Injurious Wildlife under (18 U.S.C. 42) Lacey Act | U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
 
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Van Beal said:
The Lacey Act, upon some research I decided to conduct myself and simply to expand on your point, labels 785 species as "injurious wildlife," according to the US Fish and Wildlife Service website. A couple inclusions I found a bit surprising: all 65 members of the Pteropus family of fruit bats, and the only reptiles (with the exception of the Brown Tree Snake Boiga irregularis) being constrictors (I expected that some chameleon species and exotic lizards would make the list).

For those who might want to take a look at the whole list, the link is here: Summary of Species Currently Listed as Injurious Wildlife under (18 U.S.C. 42) Lacey Act | U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
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I think the reason animals like fruit bats and mongooses are on the list is because the act also covers islands such as Hawaii that are more vulnerable to those species.
 
Cody Raney said:
What about importing live Altai argali from Mongolia for a zoo or safari park? They are MASSIVE wild sheep from the Altai Mountains in Central Asia. I know they can be imported as hunting trophies.
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Normally I wouldn't deal in absolutes, but there is a 0% chance of importing them
 
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