Please Help Asap 08/22/03

A friend of mine sent me this e-mail...I have NO IDEA! Can you help?

"Are tortoises popular in North America >? or are they even allowed from other countries.
we have available from Sudan Testudo graeca nice tortoise but we need to import 500
or so, also the Star tortoise, a little more expensive but also a very nice tortoise.,
These are both cities 11 and need authorization from the US government, but I am sure this can be down, Prices on the Greek tortoise range about 40 and the start 60 or so, all about 10 cm in size, I think they have to be a little larger like 4 inches across for NA so maybe 14 cm in size . The larger they are the more money they bring.
What do you think ?"
[color=red][i]

Thanks Melonie


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I don't understand what you are asking. I barely understand the email haha.

Are you asking about CITES permits, whether you should get involved in this import, what?

As a side note, I get these sort of emails every so often. Some nobody in another country catches a bunch of whatever and then starts spamming anyone in the US with a website trying to sell them. I used to respond to them but I finally quit wasting my time.
One guy had a bunch of Greek tortoises and was asking more for them than I would pay in this country, if I wanted a bunch of WC tortoises to begin with that is.
As far as the stars go, it's truly sad that people still sentence these beautiful and threatened tortoises to almost assured death by continuing to take them from the wild for profit. Greed and useless destruction of wildlife disgusts me.

What's your question?

My question is, are Sudan Testudo graeca legal to bring into the US? Are tortiouses poplular in US? The reason he asked is that he is in Canada. He was asking advice on the subject of legailities of importing them into US and if it would pay him to do so. Since I do not deal in reptiles, I didn't have any advice to offer him and thought I'd ask you. Melonie

Well, with no intention of being rude to you at all, I would have to say that if I knew as little about importing and selling reptiles as you and your friend apparently do, I would not even CONSIDER trying to import animals for resale! Especially from someone emailing you from a foreign country, where there are all KINDS of red flags being raised!

Really, leave this well alone. Don't walk...RUN away from this "opportunity!"

I have to agree with Darin. Immediately before trying to import that many animals is definately not the time to be learning about the laws and market conditions.
All this needs to be understood well before looking for animals to pruchase.
These "deals" pop up from completely unknown "dealers" in other countries. They present themselves and the possibility of monetary gain causes the unwary to jump in quickly.
Remember that established exporters in these countries do not, nor do they need to, email people at random trying to drum up buisness.
That means these sort of emails are either from someone with little experience trying to get started exporting his countries native herps to turn a quick buck, or it's someone running a scam and there are no tortoises to begin with.
Either way, it's not someone I'd be looking for to do buisness with.

In reading this I have to agree that this is not the opportunity that I might seem. And yet given the face of what has happened to this industry over the past 60 days the first thing that came to mind when reading this was a "sting" operation from one of our illustrious government agencies. Lets do a little trolling for someone willing to bend the import rules for the sake of profit.

In any case I would stay away at all cost. If your truely interested in getting into the import business do your homework, get your legal advice from the professionals. Sadly no judge in the world is going to care when you say, "but he told me I could" or "I am sure we had all the right paperwork".

Thank you for all the advice! I look forward to reading more and participating. I have no intentions of importing and/or exporting any reptiles or mammals. I got out of the international trade on mammals about 2 years ago. I have absolutely no interest or experience in reptiles. However, I think my friend does. We met through a mutual "furry" friend. He has been importing/exporting reptiles and mammals in Canada for some time now and is looking (I think?) at the US market. I think he may have been asking me to participate, yes. Now that I think about it a little. But as I said, I have no experience and could not possibly help him even if I were willing to spend any time or money. As I read your replies, I think it only confirms my decision. I look forward to your thoughts on this topic. Melonie