S. hardwickei legal hurdles for exporting from India?

DubiaW

Arachnobaron
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Does anyone know the history of the import/export laws for Scolopendra hardwickei in India? Why are they so difficult to obtain? Why they are easier to obtain in E.U. than the U.S.? This is a serious inquiry. Does anyone have first hand experience dealing with permitting from India or the United States? What is the difficult hurdle?
 

RTTB

Arachnoprince
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I'd be curious to know as well. They are absolutely beautiful.
 

DubiaW

Arachnobaron
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What would it take to get permitted to go over to India and collect them in the wild?
 

RTTB

Arachnoprince
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I would assume a fortune after years of paperwork and awaiting permits. Travel costs , etc.
 

Richard McJimsey

Arachnoprince
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They are in the US, just really hard to find. You won't have luck trying to export them from India, willing to bet money on it.
 

basin79

ArachnoGod
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They're not common here in the UK. They come up now and again. I got mine a little while back for £35 around 4-5cm at a guess.
 

basin79

ArachnoGod
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That is way cheaper than I thought they would be.
I did get a fantastic deal as some appeared on another site for just over £100 of similar size last week. They all sold.
 

DubiaW

Arachnobaron
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They are in the US, just really hard to find. You won't have luck trying to export them from India, willing to bet money on it.
I have a friend from a family with political connections in India. His uncle also owns a private wild game preserve. If it is a matter of permitting he might be able to make the impossible a reality. If it is a matter of U.S. permitting requirements then I've got nothing.

I am just exploring the options for a drastic life change.
 

DubiaW

Arachnobaron
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Good luck in your quest.
Right now I'm just trying to find out if there is a law in India that I need political clout to get around or if the permitting process is just too expensive to justify the effort. Being a new lover of chilopods has made me acutely aware of the nearly complete lack of information resources online and in general on this class of animals. Every time I do an online search for an obscure species or the legality of importing them Arachnoboards is the most frequent search result. Apparently "we" are the internet authority on the subject and almost everything else I want to know lies in obscure journal publications that can only be viewed if you pay for them or by physically walking into a university library or government office. It is frustrating, but the unobtainable mistress is always the most desirable, is it not?
 

DubiaW

Arachnobaron
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OK, in lieu of finding someone that has already tried this I have been bumping around the Indian Government web site. I can't find anything specifically about Chilopods on the Indian Ministry of Forest, Environment and Climate Change web site. They do provide some very vague forms to obtain permits to ship animals and animal products of all sorts. The form to get a permit requires an existing permit number to complete. If I had a permit number why would I be filling out a permit request form? The legality seems to be determined by the forestry officer that presides over the land you plan to collect from or ship from, who will in turn decide if you have legally collected the animals. The forms are really just letter formats. It's all very circular and I am wondering if it is just a matter of knowing someone in the ministry. http://envfor.nic.in/division/wildlife

Here is an example of a form (a possession or taxidermy form):

FORM I

(See sub-rule (2) of Rule 3)

Application for permission to acquire, receive, keep specified animal, animal, article, etc. or put under process of taxidermy or make animal article

To, The________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________

Sir, I ....... resident of .......... Taluk .......... District ....... and holding License No. ...... .

granted under Sec. 44 (4) of the Wildlife (Protection) Act of 1972 (53 of 1972), request that I may be granted permission to acquire/receive/ keep in any control/custody/possession specified animal/animal article/trophy/uncured trophy/meat derived from specified animal and /or put under process of taxidermy/make animal article containing part/whole of such animal.

2. I furnish below the particulars in relation to such specified animal /animal article/trophy /uncured trophy/meat:

(1) Species of animal
(2) Number
(3) Description (including sex, if possible)
(4) Source from which to be obtained
(i) Address and Licence No. if any
(ii) Whether declaration made /permission /licence obtained under Secs. 40, 43 or 44 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, and if so the particulars :
(5) Particulars of certificate of ownership
(6) Identification mark, if any
(7) Premises in which-intended to be kept
(8) Purpose for which tobe acquired / received/ kept in control/ custody / possession:
(9) If to be put under process of taxidermy or to make animal article, (a) No. of trophies /articles to be made (b) Description of such trophies / articles
(c) To whom will they be returned
(d) Probabale date by which they will be returned.
3. I hereby declare that to the best of my knowledge and belief the information furnished herein is true and complete.

Signature of the applicant
 

DubiaW

Arachnobaron
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It is the same basic layout for every type of animal form based of the wording of the wildlife protection act of 1972.
 

advan

oOOo
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Your honest best bet is to talk to dealers who regularly import from Europe. You maybe able to get a request in to their suppliers and you may get lucky. Personally trying to get these legally exported from India and legally imported into the US would cost you a fortune, not to mention the hassle. Just piggyback on an experienced importer. :)
 

DubiaW

Arachnobaron
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Jan 10, 2017
Messages
471
Yes I have been wondering if it wouldn't be cheaper and easier just to go through an established importer with contacts in Europe. That is a short term goal.

Is there any legal issue shipping WC individuals? I saw mention of this in another thread. Currently the IUCN only lists one Scolopendra species as threatened. I would love to have a gravid female just plop into my enclosure and hatch out an entire breeding project. Why would there be a restriction on S. hardwickei? S. subspinipes are mostly WC as far as I know.

I have been tapping some local pet stores to find one with a big import connection. Ken the bug guy has a store down in Tucson. He didn't seem too certain about being able to find them. A few other places that I frequent have suggested they might be able to find them through their supplier. Tarantulaspiders.com has them listed at $125 a pling but have a waiting list based on an expected 25 plings a year (they told me no this year). IDK, some local shop owners say that they will look around at the expo's. A drive to NorCal or Sandiego Expo might be worth avoiding the markup. I am hoping to breed them not wear them on a gold pendant after all.
 

Crowbawt

Arachnopeon
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Aug 20, 2016
Messages
43
There is at least one person who successfully breeds and sells Hardwickei in the UK, he has a facebook group. Might be worth looking into?
 

Pradhan

Arachnopeon
Joined
Jan 19, 2018
Messages
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I have a friend from a family with political connections in India. His uncle also owns a private wild game preserve. If it is a matter of permitting he might be able to make the impossible a reality. If it is a matter of U.S. permitting requirements then I've got nothing.

I am just exploring the options for a drastic life change.
Hi, can you give details of your friend..
 

DubiaW

Arachnobaron
Joined
Jan 10, 2017
Messages
471
Hi, can you give details of your friend..
I'm not going to give out personal details of my friend. The reason that I think he can help me on this is that Indian wildlife permits are acquired by writing a formal letter to the Game Officer in the area. It is very vague about the particulars and it seems like knowing the officer or being in the Provence is going to be more important than the law when it comes to getting a permit granted for a request that is out of the ordinary. His uncle has a game preserve and his family is very influential and I'm hoping that by having his name associated with the permit request they might approve it. A lot of government offices will reject "out of the ordinary" requests on site.
 
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