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USPS is still a gray area, as far as I know. I did some investigation a while back, starting with the congressional bills passed to create the US Postal Service. Nowhere is there any mention of the word "snakes" until you get to what is known as the Domestic Mail Manual. That is the first place I have found any mention of a prohibition against sending live snakes through the USPS. But, I do not believe that this manual constitutes federal law. I believe it is nothing more than a policy guideline. But such a distinction would probably require the services of an attorney to research this fully.
At one time I had the mailing address of the US Postmaster General and had intended to write him a letter asking about this situation, but I regret that I have never actually followed through on that intention.
But I do think that it would be a good idea to cover as many bases as possible. Actually, if there is no specific federal law prohibiting the USPS from accepting and shipping snakes, this may actually be easier to pursue than private corporations. But the federal government isn't known for speedy responses or quick fixes. So many of us could reach retirement age before even something like this would ever get serious steps taken to resolve it.
But I do think the federal government may be more sensitive to the accusation of a discriminatory policy being used by one of their branches. Darn, I just remembered. Someone contacted me a long time ago and said he was going to pursue this from the inside. He worked for the USPS and was going to go up through channels. Darn... wish I could remember who that was....
Anyone have some time to research federal USPS statutes?
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