Transporting Pet abroad advice/ help

Cookie_Monster

Perhaps some of you knowledgeable people on this forum may be able to help me.

We are looking to emigrate to New Zealand later in the year. We have 2 pet chinchillas (rodents, not dogs;)) and we are looking to bring them with us. We have found that we are allowed ship them from here into New Zealand in regards to customs, allowed animal etc.

Where we have run into difficulty is finding airlines or companies that will transport them for us.
The only real option we have found to date is Air New Zealand from Heathrow to LAX to Auckland, with BMI from Dublin, but this is 1,500 each with 2 overnight stopevers:eek::eek::eek:

Does anyone have any known companies or contact who may be able to help. We have been in touch with a company called AirSea already with no joy

Thanks

FlutterinBantam

Transporting animals that distance is not cheap.

I doubt if you will do much better than that,bearing in mind the regulations which have to be followed and airline red tape such as temp. overnight care, aircraft suitability, journey lengths etc.

Not much help I know, but no easy way out here.

Cookie_Monster

FlutterinBantam wrote: »

Transporting animals that distance is not cheap.

yeah I know, but 3k is still madness

I doubt if you will do much better than that,bearing in mind the regulations which have to be followed and airline red tape such as temp. overnight care, aircraft suitability, journey lengths etc.

it's annoying, tbh I'm amazed it's proving so difficult. I mean you can bring a baby and all associated crap with easy & cheaply but small pets are just a no-no in cabin, the mind boggles.

donkey balls

Try the likes of shipping agents I know that the likes of Lufthansa offer this service through their agent in Dub (world flight service).

Delancey

3,000 seems insane for 2 chinchillas - IIRC they aren't even the size of a hamster :eek:

Cookie_Monster

Delancey wrote: »

3,000 seems insane for 2 chinchillas - IIRC they aren't even the size of a hamster :eek:

600g each
about 12 inches long

Here's one of them

FlutterinBantam

It's not the size or weight which is the issue here, it's the logistics and risk of carrying two vulnerable animals such a long distance and the various barriers which could arise to impede that process.

Such as

Animals health

temperature

Aircraft type and suitability

other considerations such as unscheduled stops, unseasonal weather, load fluctuactions, diversions, caging and protection,animal health regulations in different countries,etc etc all conclude to making an undertaking like this a pretty expensive process.

Cookie_Monster

FlutterinBantam wrote: »

It's not the size or weight which is the issue here, it's the logistics and risk of carrying two vulnerable animals such a long distance and the various barriers which could arise to impede that process.

Such as

Animals health

temperature

Aircraft type and suitability

other considerations such as unscheduled stops, unseasonal weather, load fluctuactions, diversions, caging and protection,animal health regulations in different countries,etc etc all conclude to making an undertaking like this a pretty expensive process.

yep all of that, combined with airlines who refuse to treat them as different to dogs meaning they base it on the full 20kg weight limit and large size of the dog cage :rolleyes: rather than 1/4 the weight and 20% of the size. If we can get one travel carrier with two internal sections we should also be able to half that cost straight off rather than the two seperate.
Any commercial airliner is compatible once it has hold temp controls, most airlines have this, only commuter planes don't bother I'm told. Temp is as easily controlled as cabin if needed.

If I was in the UK you could knock 1.5-2k off that almost. BMI are the only ones that will fly to there seemingly so charge what they like (ryanair, AL etc don't want to hear about it). Have gotten a few agents to see what the story is for me. Already reduced it to 2,400 sterling (not much but a start) from Belfast.
Also have a Shannon based company who specialise in animal transport looking for quotes, they've been able to give me much more info than anyone else too, even scanned the pages from the rule book on condition and cage type for me

We've just saved 2.8k on another aspect of the trip so can probably justify it in the end, 20+ years of enjoying their company ahead of us more than pays for it in itself. One of them has already travelled over from Poland to Donegal so travel is ok for them, anything smaller I wouldn't even consider but they are very tough little creatures and there is a defined standard for travel from UK to NZ so has obviously been done successfully a good to to have such an import standard in place.

donkey balls

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

yep all of that, combined with airlines who refuse to treat them as different to dogs meaning they base it on the full 20kg weight limit and large size of the dog cage :rolleyes: rather than 1/4 the weight and 20% of the size. If we can get one travel carrier with two internal sections we should also be able to half that cost straight off rather than the two seperate.
Any commercial airliner is compatible once it has hold temp controls, most airlines have this, only commuter planes don't bother I'm told. Temp is as easily controlled as cabin if needed.

If I was in the UK you could knock 1.5-2k off that almost. BMI are the only ones that will fly to there seemingly so charge what they like (ryanair, AL etc don't want to hear about it). Have gotten a few agents to see what the story is for me. Already reduced it to 2,400 sterling (not much but a start) from Belfast.
Also have a Shannon based company who specialise in animal transport looking for quotes, they've been able to give me much more info than anyone else too, even scanned the pages from the rule book on condition and cage type for me

We've just saved 2.8k on another aspect of the trip so can probably justify it in the end, 20+ years of enjoying their company ahead of us more than pays for it in itself. One of them has already travelled over from Poland to Donegal so travel is ok for them, anything smaller I wouldn't even consider but they are very tough little creatures and there is a defined standard for travel from UK to NZ so has obviously been done successfully a good to to have such an import standard in place.

That's what is known as IATA dimensional weight used by all airlines through out the world to calculate weight v volume.

pclancy

Its amazing the money that it costs to ship animals. We've met many ex-pats in New Zealand that paid more for their dog/cat/mouse's ticket then their own! One English couple had the misfortune of paying 3 grand to ship their dog down here who then got cancer and needed another couple of grands worth of treatment. Sadly I think with the massive distances involved you're left with little choice of competition between airlines as Air NZ seem to be the only ones who'll do it properly.

You sound like you've done your homework re immigration here so you'll know in advance how incredily anal the authorities are about protecting New Zealands biodiversity, make sure you cover every detail in the paperwork for the animals. There are big fines for errors and ignorance is never accepted as an excuse for missing something. I havent flown in animals but happy to offer any advice re immigrating here if you need any help.

Delancey

A friend of mine had to jump through hoops of fire to bring his snakes over from South Africa -meetings with Civil Servants,etc - even needed some sort of zoological certificate to say they were not native to Africa.
Masses of paperwork on top of the 2 - 3,000 quid cost.

I have heard the Aussies are the toughest about bringing in pets.

Cookie_Monster

Delancey wrote: »

I have heard the Aussies are the toughest about bringing in pets.

yeah, they won't even allow Chinchillas into the country which somewhat limits flight options...