International Shipping
General information as supplied by Members of the IBBA
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Just for information: It is the customer, or the person who is buying livestock in Canada, who is required to have an import permit in order to bring Butterflies, or any other living thing, plant or animal, into Canada. Each permit lists specifically who is the seller and who is the buyer. For example, if I am importing butterflies from Grandma Sharon's Butterfly Farm, the permit for me to bring in stock is specific to her farm, and to me. If I want to bring in stock from Butterflies & Blueberries I have to apply for another permit specific to them, and so on. It is the buyer who has to apply to the Canadian Government in order to bring anything live across the border.
In addition, each permit lists specific species that can be imported (scientific name identification).
Gloria J. Brons, PresidentCanadian Butterflies Breeders & Exhibitors Association(Butterfly Wings n' Wishes - Edmonton, Alberta)If proper permits are not in place and accurate anything live, plant or animal, is destroyed by customs at the border. It has been my experience that permits either for owning exotic insects or for importing anything live across the border, are not granted indiscriminately. I have my doubts that permits would be granted on a random basis to private people because of the room for error. The Canadian Government is paranoid about the possibility of anything establishing itself that is not native. This extends to all manner of critters, and they are especially concerned about insects of any kind because of their tendancy to establish themselves under many difficult or different conditions. Frogs, Toads and so on are adaptable, but not as adaptable as insects. Still I know people in the Herpotology field here who would love to see all manner of critters commonly found in pet stores banned or more restricted than they are. Even still, we have a long list of "things that you are not allowed to own" here in Canada. As a side note of concern, I was phoned by a customer yesterday who had been dealing with "Mac" at "Rennasance Butterflies (sp?)". She is getting married September 2, and was expecting to receive butterflies from him. He has been hard to get in touch with though and she is worried about them arriving. She phoned me wondering about getting some butterflies in case she could not get confirmation from him before September 2. They are ordered, I don't know if she paid for them. I asked if she had an import permit - which she does not. I then explained that although she could buy the butterflies from him, he could not ship them to her and expect them to arrive. I think it is important to let IBBA members know what the rules are for us here in Canada and to make sure that we are not raising the expectations of customers here in Canada by offering to ship butterflies that are not likely to survive the trip. I don't know if this company is a member company or not - although I will look it up when I get a minute. I will be attending the conference in November in Fort. Lauderdale (so excited to be coming to meet everyone) and I would be happy to explain what I know about all this kind of stuff to attending members if you like.
From: Nigel Venters Some time ago I promised to post to the list the regulations for the importation of Butterflies into the UK. Its really just official wording of what I have already said to the list...In UK we can import just about any butterfly we want live and at any syage of the lifecycle...AS LONG AS WE DON'T RELEASE THEM INTO THE WILD! I have today passed on the document from the British DEFRA (Dept for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs) concerning the importation of butterflies into UK (The document covers all insects) Those that are interested may see the full document on the IBBA website SEE BELOW...however, a brief synopsis states... Quote from document follows..........Appendix B Invertebrate plant pests that may be imported live. "You may import, keep, sell, exchange or give away but MUST NOT RELEASE any of the following plant feeding insects." 1. Dictyoptera (Cockroaches) 2. Lepidoptera - Rhopalocera (Butterflies) 3. Orthoptera (Grasshoppers, Locusts, Crickets, Mantids etc.) Then it goes on to other insect groups. Hope this clears matters. I just re-read my mail, and want to clarify one point....anyone can import butterflies, at any stage of the lifecycle into the UK from anywhere in the World... WITHOUT THE NEED OF ANY LICENCE...it is of course illegal to release these imported butterflies. There are a few butterfly exceptions of course and they are the species that are on the CITES treaty list of endangered species. This list is fairly short and covers mostly Birdwing Butterflies from the far East. Those of you that intend to export butterflies to the UK should read the full document which will be posted on the IBBA website by Paul in the next few days. Hope this clarifies the situation. Nigel Click below to download the explanatory leaflet:
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