Our family needs desperate help!

Good afternoon all,
I just registered for this site as it looks like there is a great deal of information here and I am hoping someone out there can help us. My wife and I are currently stationed in Germany but moving back to the states in the next six months. We are a family of eight (my wife and I, and six feathered children).

We paid a sizable amount to move four of our flock over here to be with us and all are well adjusted and shouldn't be an issue to get home. The other two are going to be a challenge. We rescued them both while here and are now a part of our hearts and family. Losing them is not an option. Unfortunately, I don't know how to make that happen.

Conrad is a ring neck and we think we have him sorted but Lucy is a grey that we are finding to be nearly "untraceable". She is banded, but I have no idea how to hunt her breeder down. Long story short, we are her fourth family and she has suffered trauma in her life. She is an insistent plucker and we have her on medication to reduce her anxiety. I am afraid that rehoming her could make her worse (and as I said above, that isn't an option for us). We have contacted vets, export folks etc. and they all say we can't take her home because she is protected and we cannot prove that we didn't steal her.

Does anyone have any insight to shed or maybe a push in the right direction for my wife and I to get this sorted out? My heart is breaking thinking that I may have to say goodbye to her.

Any help from anyone is so much appreciated!

Justin, Brandy, Hemi, Orie, Emma, Anna, Conrad and of course Lucy.

Welcome to Parrot Forums.

Your not the first to be faced with this problem and likely far from the last.

You need to find a Certified Avian Vet ASAP!! As you will need Health Documents and and Historical Documents 'CITES.' Get that going now!

Being in the US Military will help, but with the additional Parrots it going to be that much more expensive and the documents will be examined in greater detail. A single pet of less concern, multiple pets the concerns raise regarding your intent.

More later!

You need to contact the DLNR (department of land and natural resources) in whichever state you will land in upon returning and figure out the exact documents required.

It might be helpful to do things separately, as in do paperwork for three of them under you, and three under your wife.

Is Lucy open or closed banded? If closed that’s good. Consider also getting her chipped ASAP and register the chip with an American company.

As stated, it’s the CITES regulations you need help getting. There will be extra documentation required and the process might take longer than 6 months.

In the mean time, make this an issue of patriotism

She needs a Facebook page NOW. “Lucy the African Grey”

Once you know what permits you need, get an online petition going “Bring Lucy Home; grant Form XYZ to American Soldier/Sailor/Airman/Marine DON’T TEAR THIS FAMILY APART” or something like that.

TAKE THIS FIGHT TO THE MASSES! America loves our military and loves the “pets are family” mantra and fighting for a good cause by liking and sharing posts, etc.

Then, write to the representatives in the state you are flying to. Beg for their help; they MIGHT be able to expedite things.

Does Lucy have a vet history? How long have you had her? Can you in any way track down the person you got her from and get a receipt? Even a hand written one. If you can’t get a receipt book sent to you, I’ll send you one myself.

That’s all I can think of at the moment but I’ll keep thinking. We took our flock to Hawaii and back when Uncle Sam sent us, and it was insane trying to jump through all the hoops but we did it. Your hoops are more challenging but we are here to help you as much as we can.




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Great, great advice above.
Best of success to you, and thank you for your service.
We'll all be pulling for you!

Justin, thank you and your family for your service and commitment!

I cannot imagine the heartache knowing the daunting bureaucratic maze ahead. With methodical planning and a bit of luck and cooperation, Lucy and Conrad will be winging their way back home with you.

Hopefully the advice of our experienced members will assist your goals of leaving no fid behind!

Do you have a CITES permit where you are? I’m thinking maybe the first step is to get a permit to HAVE her, and THEN a permit to MOVE her?


I’m just spit balling here, I’ve never had to deal with moving a protected species.


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Truly great advise above!

I cannot stress the importance, as others have, to get this going early!!!

You 'must' make contact with your Avian Specialist ASAP! If you do not have one, you need to get one and start this process, now!

With an unregistered (CITES) Grey, you need to develop a Legal Paper Trail! To some degree, your taking an unregistered (CITES) out of the EU maybe of some help! Getting in the the USA, without EU documents becomes problematic!

Hope to hear from you soon!

Thank you all for the great responses. I certainly owe you my gratitude and an update! We were able to reach some specialists over here who pointed us the a banding website. It is called ZZF and there were some contacts on there with email addresses available. I was able to send off Lucy's band number and within 24 hours received an email with her paperwork. This is great news! We now have an appointment for the 12th to meet with a gentleman that is going to tell us the next step. Having here record though is huge and I think is going to be the key that unlocks this step. Am I allowed to list the web address on the forum so that future folks in Europe may find it?

FANTASTIC!!!

I’m so glad to hear that!!!

If you could possibly document your process, even if you can’t put it up here (not sure of the rules but I think it’s ok) I would love to post it on my aviary website just so more people in your situation can have access to the info.


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Lucythegrey said:

Thank you all for the great responses. I certainly owe you my gratitude and an update! We were able to reach some specialists over here who pointed us the a banding website. It is called ZZF and there were some contacts on there with email addresses available. I was able to send off Lucy's band number and within 24 hours received an email with her paperwork. This is great news! We now have an appointment for the 12th to meet with a gentleman that is going to tell us the next step. Having here record though is huge and I think is going to be the key that unlocks this step. Am I allowed to list the web address on the forum so that future folks in Europe may find it?

Click to expand...

If you could kindly PM me the website I'll post in the moderator forum for discussion. More than likely it will be OK to post in the public forum.

So happy you may have unlocked the door for success!

SilverSage said:

FANTASTIC!!!

I’m so glad to hear that!!!

If you could possibly document your process, even if you can’t put it up here (not sure of the rules but I think it’s ok) I would love to post it on my aviary website just so more people in your situation can have access to the info.


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Click to expand...

Absolutely!

Scott said:

Lucythegrey said:

Thank you all for the great responses. I certainly owe you my gratitude and an update! We were able to reach some specialists over here who pointed us the a banding website. It is called ZZF and there were some contacts on there with email addresses available. I was able to send off Lucy's band number and within 24 hours received an email with her paperwork. This is great news! We now have an appointment for the 12th to meet with a gentleman that is going to tell us the next step. Having here record though is huge and I think is going to be the key that unlocks this step. Am I allowed to list the web address on the forum so that future folks in Europe may find it?

Click to expand...

If you could kindly PM me the website I'll post in the moderator forum for discussion. More than likely it will be OK to post in the public forum.

So happy you may have unlocked the door for success!

Click to expand...

PM sent! You should have it in your inbox.