Hi Alex,

The complete answer depends on what type of animal bones are being
imported.

Are these animals listed as threatened or endangered under the
Endangered Species Act?  Is the animal listed under CITES? If it is
listed under CITES, is it on Appendix I, II, or III? If the bones do
come from an Appendix I animal for example, you need an import permit
from the USFWS and an export permit from the Philippines.

If it is a threatened or endangered marine specie, you may need to
contact NOAA-Fisheries(formerly the National Marine Fisheries Service)
for permission but this depends on if the bones are obtained from
animals at sea or on land. NMFS has jurisdiction over protected species
at sea and USFWS has jurisdiction when they are on land.

On numerous occasions, I've imported sea turtle (a CITES Appendix I and
ESA species) blood from turtles that was collected while they nesting on
Costa Rican beaches and I've never had to get permission from USDA, just
USFWS.  This is not too difficult a task, just involves paper work and
time. The biggest challenge has always been obtaining the export permit
from the other country. If your PI knows someone who has ties to the
other country's Management Authority, this will help tremendously.

The most frustrating experience I had happened 2 years ago.  After
spending several weeks getting all of the proper permits in place, I
returned to the U.S. through Atlanta Hartsfield Airport all ready to
meet the USFWS agent that was notified in advance of my arrival. There I
was with turtle blood and permits in hand and no one was there to meet
me. Turns out I landed when University of Georgia was playing a
televised football game and no one wanted to miss the game which was
being shown on television throughout the airport - including in the
customs area! So I went from customs agent to customs agent asking
everyone I met to deal with my imported turtle blood and each agent
passed me onto someone else because they didn't want to miss the
football game. The next day, I called the USFWS office in Atlanta to
explain what had happened and they were greatly annoyed with me for
leaving Atlanta with my samples. So much for honesty.

The following are a few links that may help you, particularly the second
link:

http://www.cites.org/
http://www.wcs.org/sw-high_tech_tools/wildlifehealthscience/fvp/168570/1
70367

Good luck!

Pam

Pamela Plotkin, Ph.D.
Assistant Vice President for Research and
Director of Sponsored Programs
East Tennessee State University
Office of Research and Sponsored Programs
Box 70565
Johnson City, TN 37614-1707
phone: 423-439-6000
fax: 423-439-6050
email: xxxxxx@mail.etsu.edu
http://www.etsu.edu/research

-----Original Message-----
From: Research Administration List [mailto:xxxxxx@hrinet.org] On
Behalf Of Schoen, Alexander
Sent: Thursday, June 15, 2006 3:31 PM
To: xxxxxx@hrinet.org
Subject: [RESADM-L] USDA / Fish&Wildlife Permit?

Hello

One of our researchers will be receiving animal bone samples from a
collaborator in the Philippines.  He will be performing analyses of the
samples in his lab.

We need specific USDA and US Fish and Wildlife permits/approvals to be
able to import and take delivery of the samples.

Would someone with experience in this regard please let me know how we
need to go about this?

Thank you very much,

Alex

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