International Traveling

[Halo]

Hi everyone. I'm hoping someone out there has ideas or experience with traveling internationally with a chinchilla. I'm currently facing a potential move to New Zealand and am very worried about how to go about traveling with my chinchilla, Wally. I've read that the cargo hold for animals isn't the greatest of things and also gets quite warm. Possibly too warm for a chinchilla. There's also the matter of her being quarantined for days on end when landing and I'm curious as to how that will go.

The flight to New Zealand is very long. 24+ hours. The ideal situation is that she can be deemed as a carry-on pet so I can keep an eye on her and just have to be in quarantine for a few hours. Am I dreaming a big romantic dream? Wally and I are super bonded so the option of leaving her behind will not happen. However, I want to make the transition as easy as possible for her.

Any ideas/suggestions? I'd greatly appreciate it.

 

[Sycamore Chins]

You first need to find out the importation requirements that New Zealand has. There isn't much in the way of an animal leaving the US, it's getting it in the next country that's the problem.

On a quick scan, it looks like you cannot import a chinchilla to New Zealand except from Great Britain. Unfortunately, it looks like you may have no choice but to leave her behind.

http://www.biosecurity.govt.nz/enter/personal/pets

I'd do some more digging. You can also contact import/export authorities in the US that can help you out.

 

[Basket_of_Chinchillas]

"To import a pet rabbit or chinchilla you will need to follow the applicable Import Health Standard (IHS). All biosecurity requirements must be met before importation is allowed.

Pet rabbits can be imported only from Australia.

Pet chinchillas can be imported only from the United Kingdom.

An import permit is required to import a rabbit or a chinchilla."

Sycamore is right, it doesn't look like you can bring chins from North America. I ran into this problem when I wanted to go to Australia. Chin couldn't come with me so I didn't go.

 

[Halo]

Sycamore is right, it doesn't look like you can bring chins from North America. I ran into this problem when I wanted to go to Australia. Chin couldn't come with me so I didn't go.

Yeah. No Wally = No me in NZ. This is sad news. Thank you for your help.

 

[tunes]

These are incredibly antiquated and stupid rules, but what can you do? They are SO afraid that the United States are going to suddenly overrun them with rabid animals that they won't even consider lifting the restrictions.

 

[ldewald]

I just wanted to offer my 2 cents here.

Don't give up so easily! You would be amazed at the things people have achieved simply by being persistent and asking the right people the right questions!

I would definitely find out what gov dept is responsible for the importation of animals and get some contact info for them. I'm not sure how much time you have to do this, but I'll assume that you have at least several months. If it were me, I would write a hand-written note explaining what these pets and the NZ opportunity means to me, of course including adorable pics of us together!

The fact that they allow chins from the UK makes me thing that there's some logic there around health standards etc. The key is finding the person that makes these declarations and proving to them that your pets will not be of any harm to the country.

Once you've passed that hurdle I would repeat the process with the airlines.

I did read a blog somewhere out there that one girl brought her two chins with her from China to the US. I would contend that if that's possible this certainly is. She also took long (like 1-2 days) layovers so they would only be flying for 6-8 hours at a time because they were also in the cargo hold.

Best of luck!

 

[tunes]

They allow chins from the UK because there is zero rabies in the UK. They will not allow from the US because we have rabies here. Whether you are persistent or not, it's not going to change their rules.

Your friend could bring chins from China to the US because we let pretty much anything in here. I had a friend take a bunch from here to Singapore but he had to impose quarantine in his home.