Advice sought on trophy importation issues

Izzy

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First of all I am new to the forum, I have been looking at it for a couple of years, but only just signed up.
Together with my husband, we usually go on a big hunting trip once a year abroad, destinations have included SA, Bulgaria as well as Argentina.
My husband is a gamekeeper here in UK, I work along side him.
I am looking for advice concerning importing Argentinian trophies. We visited Argentina in 2014, had a good time shooting doves through to water buffalo. The hunting was good, the outfitter was not as good (somebody I may warn you about in the near future) It has been a very long drawn out process trying to get trophies home. The native species I shot were smuggled out. I was never told that they weren't exportable, just explained that they may take a little longer. Therefore I only a peccary skin, no tusks or skull, and a horrific skin of a puma I wanted for full mount, missing the skull and shrunk to the size of a domestic cat. We have asked for a blackbuck, axis and water buffalo, just cape, skull and horns to be dipped and packed and sent to UK
After almost two years later and a lot of money spent on the services of the export company, they have arrived at Heathrow for only the paperwork to have a mistake, therefor they will not release them and they may get destroyed. This is after numerous attempts of exporting them out of Argentina, always failing due to paperwork errors. The company were made aware of the mistakes before shipping, but still proceeded. At moment they are sitting at Heathrow being charged for storage. The taxidermy company has not yet replied to emails asking for correct paperwork.
My question to the more experienced hunters, is what should my next step be? Have you had similar experiences.
Many thanks for any help.
 
Welcome to the posting side.

The ultimate trophy nightmare.
You are at the mercy of the company handling your trophies.

What is in error?

Perhaps Rob can make some suggestions.
SSI
 
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Welcome to AH!

Sorry to hear this news, like Brickburn said, sadly your at their mercy right now, wish I had some advice for you. Hope you can get your stuff from the airport
 
Thanks for your replies. The error is an incorrect weight on the vet certificate, should have been amended before being shipped. The worrying thing is export company as yet haven't replied to recent emails.
Izzy
 
Have you tried using a different email address and making a general inquiry?
 
Not yet, it's only been a few days, just worrying as usually they reply to emails instantly. I have emailed the top man to bring it to his attention.
 
Maybe they are on an early Easter Holiday.
March 24 is a Public holiday in Argentina.
 
Welcome to AH. Im sorry your having such a hard time with your trophies. I do hope things work out.
 
Just thought I would update you on the long process of receiving my trophies.
Eventually the vet certificate was received and after paying £735 in storage, due only to the vet certificate being wrong our trophies were then released.
We took the axis and blackbuck straight to taxidermists. So I don't know what state they were in. The buffalo we opened ourselves as we just wanted a skull mount. On opening to our horror it was in pieces.
I have emailed the outfitter, but guess what no reply. I emailed the exporter, about the cost of storage at Heathrow, but also no reply.
Perhaps putting it on an public forum will save other hunters the upset and ordeal that we have faced.
The outfitter was Jorge Nestor Noya, or Caza Y Safaris
The exporter was Alfredo Perez

Here are photos of the mention buffalo head
image.jpeg
 
I'm really sorry to see these pictures! Do you have insurance on the trophy shipment? I would put a claim in possibly. It probably can be fixed but it won't be cheap! I doubt anyone will claim responsiblity for the storage fees. You could sue but it will cost you way too much money.
 
Since this forum is about being fair & balanced, I contacted Alfredo Perez whom we have worked with for many years and is not a member of AH. What I did was send Afredo the posted photo and a screenshot of this thread in order that he had the opportunity to reply. See his reply below:
 

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Thanks for requesting his input Robert
 
Usually two sides to every story.
 
so who made the mistake with the weigh of the crate. I don't think anyone was blaming this guys for trophies not being done right but on getting the paperwork and shipping seems to be his problem. If he was shipping the crate should he have not had the weight
 
Billc,
A lot of the shippers rely on the dip & packers for the weight... They make the crate and applying for doc's
 
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so what job did this mr perez do then that is what I am trying to figure out. Who made the mistake and at fault. A customer not paying as fast as he may like did not make the paperwork wrong.
 
He is the exporter..... it took the client 5 months to pay for the dip, pack , shipping and doc's.
This is why the doc's expired....
 
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ok so he is getting the heat because he took the word of the dip/pack place and did not catch the weight was wrong.
 
:A Me You: This is the part I hate.

Get those pictures at every step to CYA.
Then everyone will know where the problem was to the best extent possible.
 
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Thank you to all the replies and especially to safari speciality importers for getting in touch with Alfredo Perez.
I have explained in more detail on another thread about the late payment etc.
Personally I don't know who is responsible for the weighing the trophies and who's part is to blame there.
The main trouble I have is that contrary to the reply above the export company were very aware of the mistakes on the paperwork prior to shipping. They were given very precise instructions from Martin Aires about the errors and were told that they would not be accepted through customs. However despite all this they still shipped, and the trophies were held at Heathrow for 49 days until they applied for a new certificate. For that I hold them responsible for the delay and extra storage charge of £735
I would rather have not put this on a public forum, both outfitter and exporter were contacted, however I have received no correspondence from either.
I posted with the view that others might learn from this as I have.
 

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