[milojames]

Hi, all. I'm new here, although I've lurked for a while. I read a thread a while back about traveling with your pet bird between the U. S. and Canada and it was enormously helpful to me, because I was required to spend several months in Canada for my work.

My Eclectus came up to Canada to stay with me about a month after I got here. Relatives drove him up. They had some issues with the U. S. Customs side leaving the country, but the Canadian Customs said they thought everything was in order and they admitted my little guy. I had previously applied for a "pet passport" that's supposed to be good for a year.

Anyway, I'm getting ready to go back to the U. S. and I pulled out the paperwork that my family gave me when they brought the bird up to me and I found out that they had not taken him to the vet in the U. S. before they left. I thought maybe they had just neglected to give me the health certificate, but it turns out that they never got it. I had taken the bird to the vet about a month before I left the country for a specific issue and they thought I took care of the health certificate at that time, too. I didn't, of course, because it has to be done within 10 days (I think) before the border crossing and I was gone long before then.

So although the Fish and Wildlife permit is in order and I can get a local health certificate from Canada before I leave here, I don't have one from before his arrival and that's a requirement.

Is there anyone here who has any experience with this? I have no dea what I can do to rectify this or what they'll do when I show up with no pre-departure health cerificate. I've tried calling the Fish and Wildlife Service and gotten nothing but voicemails and no call back. I know this is probably a question that they're going to have to answer when I eventually do get hold of someone, but I was just hoping someone had some idea.

Thanks.