can I take my conure to Spain

[pukeko]

Super long post! Sorry! But I traveled about three years ago with my beloved maroon bellied conure to the USA. It was long and painful (mostly for the humans) and totally worth it.

I recommend at least six months of planning time before international travel with a bird. CITES appendix 2 birds can probably get away with 6 months (mine took a year), but for CITES appendix 1 birds like sun conures, give yourself at least a year to work out the permitting.

International travel with parrots requires CITES permits from both the exporting and importing countries. You need to prearrange a reimportation "passport" before you leave the country if you want to be able to return without refiguring out the CITES and country-specific paperwork all over again from the other end. This paperwork is non-optional, and needs to travel with the bird for the entire journey. If it is lost or stolen, it can result in the euthanasia of your bird. My conure's paperwork was lost during our 12 hour flight, but was thankfully found a day later and she was both obviously tame and not an endangered species, so they had decided not to destroy her anyway.

You need to find out which departments are actually responsible for import/export permits for both US and Spain (Fish and Wildlife in USA), but be prepared to deal with multiple departments which will talk across each other, disclaim their own responsibilities onto other departments, and generally not know what they are doing. You may need paperwork processed by more than one department. Make allies, talk to the bosses, and look up the letters of the laws if you can.

Pet passports - inquire, and try to get one to ease reimport. I am looking at getting one or more in a few years, when I plan to move to Europe. I do not know how internationally valid these actually are, but more certification is generally better. And as there are people who travel internationally frequently with their birds, I am sure some mechanism must exist so that it won't be this much trouble every single time - just more trouble the time you arrange it ; )

Build a "proof of purchase, proof that your bird was born in captivity, proof that your bird is owned by you" packet. Pictures, receipts, vet bills, band/chip information, a detailed physical, behavioural and vocabulary (if applicable) description, and more, should all go in here, especially if you no longer have an original purchase receipt or paperwork or something. If your bird is CITES 1, I would not dare attempt travelling without proof of domestic breeding and proof of ownership.

All of that beautiful, horrific paperwork (from CITES local, CITES abroad, Fish and Wildlife, Spanish equivalent, other involved departments, your vet, potentially airport vet, quarantine vet, etc.) MAKE THREE COPIES. Keep one on you constantly, stash the second with your baggage, and give the third to a trustworthy person back home who can fax copies if disaster strikes. The originals have to stay with your bird during all travel, and are vulnerable during that period. Especially if you have a rare or particularly desirable species, this is your safety in places where you may not understand or know the local laws or customs.

Cost is a thing. My bird's ticket cost double mine, and required a custom built (to airline specs - another call for paperwork, ish, and trouble chasing down the correct person who may actually know the rules) box for below (too long for cabin, apparently ) : ) I don't plan to move continents more than four times in my life...

Microchips are different in different countries, and cannot be read without the correct reader. Pyrrhura conures are generally considered too small to microchip, especially with the Anerican chips, which are larger than EU ones.

Prolonged travel is stressful, and may actually kill your bird. Be sure your bird is fairly used to traveling (for extended periods, eats and drinks happily... make that extremely used to traveling, ideally) and well socialised, especially if your bird has to undergo quarantine. Make sure they are in good health. That can make up for a lot, if they aren't particularly well-traveled or socialised. Don't just take the all-good from the vet (required!) but also know your bird and its habits and trust yourself if you think it is looking a little off. Travel like this is definitely a risk, but it can be worth it, especially if you are travelling long term or your bird is used to flying domestically and you think a jaunt to Europe for a holiday won't phase it!

Vaccinations? Aren't some bird vaccines live vaccines? Are there many studies on their safety and efficiency in parrots? There almost certainly aren't any for your species. (like vaccines, love science, just also love nice big bodies of research)

Quarantine - again, socialisation. My bird came back with new kissing behaviors learned from favorite staff members, and we called frequently for updates on how she was doing, but they warned us that we "might get a naked bird back". Quarantine is also an uncapped expenditure, for which you pay extra for food other than seeds and anything else they ask of you, with absolutely no guarantee of ever seeing your bird again if they get sick. I'm not sure the kind of sickness would even matter - would they release a bird with cancer or another noncontagious disease discovered in the facility? I really don't know. See if you can arrange "at home" quarantines both sides of the trip, or "pre-quarantines".

If you move forward with your plans, I am happy to talk more about the mechanics of it, but generally
- time for planning, permits, and wading through the bureaucracy of two countries for a rare procedure. If you can find the govt. workers who think this is rote and do this every day, Get Their Personal Phone Numbers. Trust nothing. Double, triple, quadruple check, and then check again. And again. With that other office and agency too. And the other country. Guh. 6 months to more than a year.
- cost. Expensive. Get a pet passport if you can, though, they might last the life of the pet?
- identification paperwork, copies, and how your bird's life is dependent on you having multiples, the originals (which follow the bird and are not even under your control for extended periods of kind of terrifying time... there is a black market for CITES paperwork. Use legal inks which cannot be washed off) .... and dependent on officials in foreign countries who you may not share a language with trusting and believing your documents. Spain should be fine, but there are many countries I would never take a bird without a local friend who can and will act on your behalf.

Oh, and there are countries you can never take a bird, countries you can never take a bird back to, and probably countries which you can never take your bird out of once it gets there. Know the local laws. Do not take your bird to a country which has bird flu, as the UsA may not let it return.

[pukeko]

Oh, but international travel within the EU is much easier. Still give it a few months to quintuple check, but I think driving across borders with a vet check in the past ten days (certificate! copies! id kit!) might be ok for some countries.