Shipping Snakes UPS is Illegal

I was reading the UPS rules of shipping live animals and all Venomous and Non-Venomous Snakes are illegal to ship UPS. Here is the link so that for those of you who didn't know will know now. I only read this because I have a couple of boas to ship and I wanted to know what they accepted. Yes before when I shipped snakes UPS and Fedex I never bothered to read. But here is the link. also didn't read Fedex yet but I will.

http://www.ups.com/content/us/en/res...s/animals.html

Not illegal, but against UPS policy...there is a difference. Also, some accounts (typically, the ones bringing a volume of business) supposedly have permission - in some of those cases, though, I suspect it is more a matter of UPS turning a blind eye.

Re: FedEx. I can save you the trouble of looking. FedEx, by policy, does not accept shipments of live animals; HOWEVER, there is a waiver available that grants business to business shipping of reptiles (including snakes).

well I didnt mean illegal by law I meant the UPS policy. Because every time I use UPS they ask me whats in the box I just tell them ebay items. As for fedex I know you can get a account with them to ship live animals I know this because a friend of mine got the account just to make things easier on him. But I kinda figured if you needed a account that they dont want you to just walk in and ship an animal without the account. Well could always use delta dash and spend $200 to ship a $20 animal.

So, you lie to UPS to violate their policy (and violate Federal law in the process, by failing to identify live animal shipments), but recognize that FedEx doesn't want people shipping reptiles without the waiver....
You seem misinformed about Delta Dash, as well. One can't just walk into the Delta office and send off a reptile - you have to have an account...it's expensive for a small, light package (hardly $200, though), but for larger heavier ones, it's cheaper than either FedEx or UPS (and you can strap boxes together for the same price, as long as you stay under the generous weight limit). There are also benefits to the service, which, in many cases, outweigh the cost and the disadvantage of having to pickup at the cargo office.

If there's a waiver with UPS for shipping snakes, you can use them to ship snakes--YOU MUST IDENTIFY WHAT IS IN THE PACKAGE. It is in violation of the Lacey Act not to accurately identify the species and common name of an animal you are shipping, ON the package. (Inside the plastic envelope the label is in is fine). Lying about what is in the package is illegal. I use SYR to ship snakes through UPS, and I tell them exactly what I am shipping. I have had 0 problems.

I do not want anyone I buy from to mislabel snakes in a package sent to me. My only option to avoid breaking the law would be to reject the package, which would surely result in the death of the animal. I resent being forced to be a criminal to save an animal's life, so if someone sends me an animal in that fashion, I will most certainly NEVER buy from them again.
Mislabeling packages is immoral, as well as illegal--it puts the animals' lives at MUCH higher risk than they would be in a correctly labeled package. No one who ships in that fashion could be considered a 'good guy' to buy from.

Yea but your not understanding me. From what I read on the UPS site if I go in to UPS today and say hey i'm shipping a couple of boas they are gonna turn me away. It says it right in the link. Also technically I didnt lie about anything all I said was that it was ebay items. I just figured it was the same thing as USPS with bugs. Your not suppose to ship tarantulas and scorpions but everyone does it anyways. So don't judge me. I put the post here because it was something new for me because ive only used UPS like twice before. Plus come on I can guarantee you have shipped something at some point in your life and said it was something else.

I just didn't put the post up to argue or be attacked in anyway. It was more of for the people who didn't know they don't allow it and that they are taking a chance of not being able to ship the animals if they straight out tell UPS they have snakes in the box. See I don't use fedex or UPS enough for me to make a account. Also just because I know that Fedex you need a waiver didn't mean I knew that UPS you needed one to. If I wanted my hand slapped over something I didn't know but I know about it now i'd go move back in with my parents.

I'm not sure which of us you are addressing, so I'm just going to respond as if it's me...

Originally Posted by RedTail83

Yea but your not understanding me.

Actually, I understood you just fine - both in terms of what your intention was with the post, and what you said.

From what I read on the UPS site if I go in to UPS today and say hey i'm shipping a couple of boas they are gonna turn me away. It says it right in the link.

Yes, it does; and yes, they will. That might even happen if you were using SYR, or had a FedEx waiver...but, at least if it did, you'd be in the right & have something to back you.

Also technically I didnt lie about anything all I said was that it was ebay items.

Then, technically, you lied. Ebay doesn't permit the sale of live animals. UPS doesn't permit the shipping of snakes. You lied to ship your animals.

I just figured it was the same thing as USPS with bugs. Your not suppose to ship tarantulas and scorpions but everyone does it anyways.

lol - you're making this too easy. As the saying goes, two wrongs don't make a right.

So don't judge me.

I'm not judging anybody...but don't try to spin mislabeling the contents into something innocent, or honest.

Plus come on I can guarantee you have shipped something at some point in your life and said it was something else.

How much are you willing to bet on that? If you're guaranteeing that about me, your word doesn't hold much weight.

The original point of your post was a reasonable one to make, even if it has been posted over and over again. Why? Because far too many people don't bother to check the rules, and they don't bother to look for information. It IS good for people to know these things...and I responded because it is also good for people to get more information than you provided.
As I mentioned above, mislabeling of a live animal package is a violation of Federal law. That includes saying the box contains a tortoise when it contains an alligator (as a random example) every bit as much as stating that the contents are something nonliving. Some people do it and don't get caught - that doesn't make recommending it right, or honorable; some people get caught by UPS - and all that happens to them is that their shipment doesn't go through...and maybe they lose their account; other people, well, sometimes they get caught by USFW, and face fines or prison time.
Sorry if you felt "attacked" but at least those that didn't know, now know better.

Originally Posted by WingedWolf

Mislabeling packages is immoral, as well as illegal--it puts the animals' lives at MUCH higher risk than they would be in a correctly labeled package. No one who ships in that fashion could be considered a 'good guy' to buy from.

If you really believe that being labeled correctly will in any way result in better or more careful handling of the package then you are fooling yourself. If anyone along the way even noticed anything written on the package aside from the delivery address it might be the delivery driver, but even that's doubtful.
For that matter you should be equally worried about someone in a warehouse somewhere with a hatred for snakes punting it across the floor if they saw the label.
I'm not saying don't label packages or anything, nor arguing the legal aspect, I'm just saying it makes zero difference in the amount of risk due to shipping.

I could not guess at the number of shipments of snakes I've received over the years, but I honestly cannot remember a single one being correctly labeled according to the law. "Live Harmless Reptiles" is about as close as anything I've received has ever been labeled. Usually it's just "perishable" if anything at all. I don't hold it against anyone and definitely don't consider them a bad guy for it.