I have had so many wars with customs on African trophies that it just about drives me nuts.
Examples:
We have seized your leopard because it is endangered so we are going to destroy it. (it has been mounted in my home since about 1980)
You can not bring an elephant into Canada. How could the agent in Calgary not know the laws regarding something so legendary … it was not a stupid toad or butterfly .. ?
You need a zoo permit to bring a dead swan into Canada? Why would I need that? It is dead and those are all of the necessary hunting and export permits.
We have seized your spotted hyena because some kind of hyena is endangered somewhere...
Come up to Calgary to clear your animals. So I go to Calgary and when I got there it was late in the day .. 1/2 an hour before closing. We are closed! No you are not .. I come all the way here to clear them .. No problem .. we will ship them all back to your city..
The only animal that I ever lost was a monitor lizard. They sent 4 agents to seize it from the taxidermist as the shippers had put down the wrong scientific name … I decided to spend the rest of my life without a monitor lizard in my home .. Too bad …