My wife and I live in Canada with our 22 yr old DYH Amazon.
A Florida vacation WITH Garcia would be a wonderful experience for all of us.
Do any Canadians (or Americans) who frequent this forum (or any other parrot sites) know any more about crossing into the United States with a CITES "endangered"-listed bird than I do?
What I've learned is that the "rules" around taking a pet parrot into the USA are absolutely ridiculous.....provide nothing with regard to the prevention of bird smuggling nor the spread of avian disease.
As far as I can determine, it's a mis-informed, poorly-conceived, severely-enforced set of regulations that simply punishes parrot owners for wanting to travel with their pets.
Yes, our parrot actually HAS his own passport, issued by Environment Canada.
Do you think that does him any good?
No.
In spite of the fact that he is a 22 year old pet with a passport (proving origin) AND a clean "bill of health" from his own veterinarian, the rules say we must have him inspected by a USDA vet (at a cost of $65 CAD) in order to take him INTO the US.....AND pay several hundred dollars (again to US entities) in order to bring him back OUT of the US.
Has anyone researched this crazy situation in the last couple of years? (I did it several years ago and became exhausted and frustrated.....and gave up. But now that we're retired, we'd REALLY like to take Garcia down south with us.)
Your thoughts?