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Post by Paul K on Jan 13, 2020 15:11:59 GMT
Flying through Brazil with a bunch of dead bugs sounds risky at best.... John Who said a trip to Guyana has to be safe ? It is also thanks to that that Amazonia, Papua and so on remain mythical destinations. John, flying through Brazil might be risky but it is also risky flying through US!! Yea I know in Brazil one can end up in not so nice jail ! I almost lost all my specimens going back from Guyana at Miami’s airport. I had a really difficult time with customs to convince them that I only transfer in Miami and in Canada we don’t need any forms at the border.
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Post by jmg on Jan 13, 2020 18:43:14 GMT
Crossing a Brazilian border with insects is said to be risky. Let's admit, though ... A simple method to avoid any problem: once the collecting is finished in Guyane, we send by post the package containing the catches to its address in Canada (for example) and we enter Brazil without the slightest insect. In Brazil (and also in Australia), thousands of square kilometers of forest are set on fire and the entomologist who is guilty of having captured some insects is worried. After Nuremberg and the creation of the "crime against humanity", one should, today, create a crime of ecocide (crime against the planet) and send to prison the Bolsonaro and other Brazilian latifundists who destroy forests and are massive displayers of poisons !
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Post by trehopr1 on Jan 13, 2020 19:23:11 GMT
My insect dealer+ friend whom I've known for 22 years went to F.Guiana twice in the mid-1980's at different times. Once for butterflies and another time for beetles and moths. His most AMAZING stories about both visits almost always involve his trip there during the rainy season in January. He spent 3 weeks there and during that time collected around 5000 Saturniids alone. He picked off something near 35 Titanus as well along with an incredible variety of other Cerambycidae. Butterflies of coarse were basically non-existent but, the rest was alive and kicking... Of coarse, he also fondly mentions how he was wet just about the ENTIRE trip, managed only 2 showers, got a botfly lesion under the skin of his left arm (which was removed) after he arrived home, and had to live out of a large tent. He rented a small pickup truck for his tent and gear and made several trips in down-pouring rain to get petrol for his generator. He was in his 30's then and remarked that had he been much older he probably would have "packed it up" a lot sooner than his 3 weeks as the conditions were just ALMOST un-bearable given the weather and the nomadic lifestyle he was living....🙁😱
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Post by jshuey on Jan 13, 2020 19:56:39 GMT
John, flying through Brazil might be risky but it is also risky flying through US!! Yea I know in Brazil one can end up in not so nice jail ! I almost lost all my specimens going back from Guyana at Miami’s airport. I had a really difficult time with customs to convince them that I only transfer in Miami and in Canada we don’t need any forms at the border. Entering the US with dead insects and appropriate permits is not at all risky - I've done it scores of times. If you had difficulty - I'd guess that you did not contact customs in advance and/or your paperwork / documentation was not intuitive (note that even if you are passing through to Canada, Miami is still in the United States). FWS recommends that you share as much info as possible with FWS in advance of bringing wildlife into the US. Get a name at FWS in Miami and email all your paperwork to them before you hit the airport. Make sure you have extra copies of that paperwork in hand. Have a copy of the rules governing insect collection and export from the country in question in hand. That's what I do, and it takes perhaps a good 5 minutes extra to clear customs - mostly because they still "look at the bugs" and then run my baggage through the extra contraband x-ray machine in the USDA line (just in case I also have an undocumented papaya hidden away). But it does take some advance work upfront of the trip - perhaps an hour or so extra beyond your host county paperwork. But a few years back (2013 I think) even with Brazilian collecting and export permits (and a letter from my sponsors at the University), I had a hard time leaving Brasilia with dead bugs. I can imagine what would happen with bugs from Guiana, a permit written in French, and me speaking spanglish as my best approximation of Portuguese. Like I said - seems risky - nothing more / nothing less. john
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