Since my name has been used several times here with inferences which are not exactly correct, I wish to state some facts for the record:
1) Adult Radiated Tortoises (and other large tortoises as well) can urinate VERY copious amounts and do so frequently when stressed (IE, simply when picked up or when placed in a box to be shipped, etc.). Therefore it is an absolute necessity to ship an adult Radiated Tortoise in a totally watertight shipping container. As some other posters here have noted, this means a solid 5 sided Styrofoam cooler with a lid fitted inside a cardboard outer box such as those used to ship tropical fish. It DOES NOT mean 6 separate flat pieces of Styrofoam laid inside a cardboard box. There is NO seal whatsoever in that situation, and any liquid originating in that type of Styrofoam lined shipping box will readily leak out. Wooden crates for large tortoises are supposed to be watertight as well (if used for shipping via Delta Airlines, and probably others as well), but wooden boxes will leak somewhat unless the seams are sealed. Wooden boxes, however will not fall apart when they get wet the way cardboard does. No one can blame UPS here for trying to keep the original incorrectly used box from falling apart and having the contents lost in transit. They were simply doing what they were supposed to do by getting the box to its destination in one piece. They had no idea there was a live animal in it, since it had no air holes and wasn't marked as a "LIVE ANIMAL" so that they would accept it for shipment. There really can be no doubt that the delay was caused by the box beginning to fall apart in transit which had to be remedied before its journey could continue. IMPROPER PACKAGING cost this tortoise its life, NOT the carrier delays which were necessitated by it.
2) That being said, I personally will not use ANY overnight shipping methods regardless of the carrier involved unless at the buyer's insistence, and then I inform the buyer that doing so is absolutely and totally done at the buyer's sole risk because of the many bad experiences I have had personally or have heard about from others over the years with FEDEX, UPS, DHL, etc. Additionally, I feel that just a few hours spent in a box is a lot less stressful to the animals than 14-24 hours spent that way. Also, I have had a UPS account for my business since the 1980's and asked them several times over the years whether I could ship reptiles via UPS. I was told that it was against their regulations to ship live animals AND THEREFORE their planes have no pressurized and heated cargo areas. They also told me that they randomly X-rayed packages, and that if they detected any live animals in them, the shipper of same was banned from using UPS for life. Here is yet another caveat for shippers in colder areas: when I lived in CT, I frequently visited the airport very early in the mornings to ship various animals. There I observed that many of the packages waiting to be loaded onto the UPS planes were left sitting (in open sided carts and other containers) outside on the tarmac all night. We often had nights of zero and below in the winter, and the boxes in the carts often had frost on them at 4-5 AM. Not something I would do to my tortoises, even with heat packs in the box.
3) The tortoise which Erik sent to Andrew and "the breeder" was raised by me and was in 100% perfect condition when it was sent to Erik by me a few months before this debacle unfolded. Erik wanted me to send it to him via FEDEX, but I refused to do so, and he arranged to have his father go to the airport and pick up the box from Delta Airlines. The same thing could have been the case here had the seller been more conscientious. Like others here, I find it hard to believe that animal died in a week, BUT it was not used to the intense AZ heat and sun, and could easily have perished from overheating if put directly outside and not watched carefully until it got accustomed to its new environment. That would be the fault of "the breeder". Personally, if I had an animal die after such a short time, I would have a necropsy done so I would know what killed it. Where are the necropsy results to prove its demise?
