Ontario Hunter
AH ambassador
Okay, first a couple of disclaimers. This is about me returning from South Africa to Canada with trophies as check baggage. The trophies were shot three years ago in 2023. It is my understanding animal parts usually cannot leave or enter a country without a specific waiting period after harvest (60 days?). This involved three skulls only (NO dip and pack capes) of non-CITES listed species: springbuck, impala, and gemsbuck. I had already shot all three species several times before and though these were nice trophies (actually, turns out they were much nicer than I thought) they were expendable and therefore worthy candidates for this experiment. The reason for the experiment: I'm fed up with the bullshit and screwing-in-the-arse I'd been subjected to shipping stuff home via freight companies and brokerages. I finally found a freight company in RSA that was reasonable to deal with (both in terms of $$$ and communication) but still had to put up with the shipping and broker pirates on this end. Always an endless nightmare from the time the crate landed at Toronto till it arrived at the freight depot here. Then the shock when my credit card bill arrived!
First step. According to the RSA published govt regulations I was able to find after a very diligent internet search, trophies (or any animal parts) leaving the country are supposed to be inspected and approved by a regional govt veterinarian. Apparently, this is not always enforced when leaving the country with some trophy items in checked or carryon luggage (e.g. warthog tusks or zebra rugs). But as I read it, a vet inspection is required and freight company invoices always charged me for it. I contacted my taxidermist and they couldn't be much help because inspection is typically left to freight shipper. My impression was they were not thrilled with being involved in inspection process. I contacted a couple shipping agents asking how to contact a vet for inspection. Not surprised when I didn't get a response (even less surprised later on). So I started looking online for info re RSA govt veterinarians. I was finally able to find a spread sheet of all the vets with locations and contact email. The inspecting vet MUST be from the district where the trophies are processed. There was only one vet for Port Elizabeth where my taxidermist was located and email was returned as undeliverable. I contacted the vet nearest where my safari lodge is located to see if we could bring the stuff to him after I arrived. No, the trophies had to be inspected and crate sealed at the site where they are processed. He informed that the PE vet had recently relocated to New Zealand but he'd find out how to contact his replacement. A few hours later I had an email address. The new vet was obviously a native chap just out of school. He was all over himself trying to be helpful, admitting it was his first time doing trophy inspections and he wanted to do it right. Communication between myself, the vet, my PH, and taxidermist was excellent and arrangements were made to have the trophies inspected in the morning before I arrived at PE airport. We would pick up the crate on the way out of town. But before I boarded the plane to PE in Joberg I received a text from my PH informing me that there was some unexplained problem with the inspection and we would need to pick up the trophy crate when I returned to leave for home. Taxidermist later informed the "problem" was not that serious. The newby veterinarian pointed out that skulls usually go through client country's customs quicker as "finished taxidermy" so they're not confused with dip and pack. He suggested attaching the skulls to a board (any board) which would render them "finished". In fact, I had left instructions for this but overlooked when packing the crate. The taxidermist temporarily hot glued each of the skulls to a small piece of scrap plywood, the vet re-inspected, signed the paperwork, and sealed the crate. Knowing that the crate had to remain sealed, I needed to find a way to attach an AirTag for tracking without opening the box. Before leaving home I made a packing lable that contained the AirTag. It's a scrap piece of 1/4" pine with a pocket on one side drilled with 1.25" forster bit deep enough to hold the AirTag. On the opposite front side I attached a brass plaque with my name, address, etc left over from a gun case project (for obvious reasons I obscured my name in the attached photo).
I kept requesting from vet what his fee would be and how to pay him. He finally responded there was no fee. Hmmm. But why do the freight companies keep billing me for it? I bet if you complain they will just tell you they're billing for freight company person's time to hang out during inspection. Needless to say my taxidermist didn't bill me extra.
So, safari is over and my PH drives us to the taxidermist to pick up the sealed crate and paperwork (they had already emailed me copies). Very important to have digital copies of ALL paperwork for the safari: invitation letter from operator, export and import documentation, airline reservations, etc. Email copies to yourself if necessary. That way even if you get hit by a tsunami or flash flood and loose all paperwork and phone, you can still check your email someplace and retrieve copies. The importance of this will become clear later in the post. At the shop I finally am able to meet the taxidermist and his office manager gal. Two of the nicest folks you'll ever meet. They are quite frank about their initial reluctance about getting involved with inspection. The previous vet was by all accounts a difficult person to deal with. They were impressed with the new guy. At the shop I got to look at the showroom which was impressive. This time they didn't send me images of finished trophies before packing but my previous experience with them didn't make it necessary.
At the airport everything went smoothly. All luggage had to be retrieved at Joberg for checking in for flight to Europe. And of course, the guns have to be rechecked at police station. Don't forget, you have to pick up your guns from oversize baggage area yourself before you can get to the lobby where previously booked gun handling assistant will "guide" through the maze of gun inspection and checking in with airline. Both coming and going the delays at Joberg in getting through passport inspection was unusually long. Making the transfer to PE flight on my arrival into Joberg required almost three hours!
The flight to Zurich went off without a hitch. My phone is Android so I rely on my daughter in Ontario to track the AirTags with her IPhone. She texts: "Dad, your gun case, checked bag, and trophy crate arrived." There's a six hour difference between her time and Europe/RSA. My layover was more than seven hours and plane was delayed leaving by almost an hour. She was still awake and sent a satellite photo of two AirTags at the terminal and one out on the tarmac ... in a downpour. Then she saw the AirTags "go dark." This can mean either no Apple product is nearby to triangulate OR the stuff is loaded and everyone's phone is in airplane mode. We presumed the latter.
I arrived at Pearson (Toronto) an hour late. My daughter is there too. She flew in the day before for a medical appointment and we planned to go home that afternoon on the same flight. As soon as I turned on my phone after landing I see a text: "Dad, your guns and trophy crate are still in Zurich." Checked bag is here. When I get to baggage carousels I head immediately to Air Canada counter to see what happened with the guns. Standing in line with carryon daypack on my back and computer bag on the trolley, I see my red checked bag come down the carousel chute right behind me. I run twenty yards to grab it, turn around ... and the computer bag is GONE! Trolley is still there but no bag. And yes, the computer bag contains the folder with all the trip documentation! Shit! I ran to customs gate to inform them (it's a very distinctive forest green bag with US National Park Service logo on the front). They give me the foreman salute (shoulder shrug) and point me to customs office. I should mention that there are NO SECURITY PEOPLE WHATSOEVER in the huge baggage terminal at Pearson. None! A very helpful young agent at customs office takes me to a vendor where we can print copies of trophy documents, my temporary gun export permit, and my firearms possession license (from email attachments accessed on my phone). That way when my stuff does arrive she can whisk it through customs onto the next flight home. Believe it or not she insisted on paying for the copies herself! Then she walked me up to level three to the police station to report the computer theft. The officer decides he needs to see the crime scene. On the way to the carousels he asked me the time it occured. My daughter's text told me the exact time. As we are walking he sees a security guy coming to work with thermos in hand and they have a brief chat. "Who was that? A supervisor?" No, he works in the surveillance camera dept. "Great! So, we should be able to see who swiped my bag?" Maybe. Then he asks where's my daughter. She texts Starbucks. "Let's go see her first." Interesting. When we get there, he insists I stay and have a coffee. He will go have a look on his own. Odd. About twenty minutes later here he comes ... with my computer bag! "What's the story?" "Oh, someone made a mistake." What mistake? Who? My daughter was more perceptive than her worn out exasperated old father. "Leave it, Dad. You've got your bag." He smiled and nodded. He knew exactly who had it before parking me at Starbucks. Airport staff without a doubt. I'm sure he sorted out the SOB. Me making a fuss would have meant a report etc and we would miss our next flight and be stuck overnight in that sweltering airport (air conditioning has been broke since forever!).
Our flight arrived home late so first thing the following morning I went to the Air Canada desk at our local airport (forget trying to get anyone on the phone!) and was pointed to a phone with a direct line to the baggage section. A very nice fella named Luigi did his best to help me. According to Air Canada the gun case and trophies were still in Zurich. Had to be because that's the last place the luggage tag codes were scanned. But I could show him satellite images of those two tags sitting at Pearson. Apparently both items left Zurich and arrived at Pearson without being scanned. He gave me his personal email and I sent him copies of the satellite images and he sent them to the baggage supervisor at Pearson. Then everyone at Air Canada started ghosting Luigi. Man, that pissed him off. And me as well. I couldn't sleep and at 3:00 a.m. I fired off an official letter to Ontario Firearms Officer laying it all out and threatening to fly back to Toronto in the morning with someone from the media to meet me there. At 6:00 a.m. a restricted number attempted to phone me but my cell was out of gas. They did not leave a message. I suspect it may have been RCMP (federal police). Just after 9:00 a.m. Luigi called and he was delighted to report my guns and crate would be on the next flight out of Pearson. "When there's a threat of media involvement, results tend to happen." Now, how did he know I'd even made that threat? Sure enough, we could see the stuff was finally moving around at Pearson. I guess there is an advantage to living in a country that's a bit overly paranoid about guns.
CBC News is particularly gun phobic and I'm sure they would have jumped all over a story about a couple of rifles disappearing into the Twilight Zone. Air Canada also seems to be constantly on their pimple-picking radar.
My guns and trophies eventually arrived in good shape. The gal in customs at Pearson was good as her word. Neither the guns or trophies were held up. I guess it was the red luggage we saw out on the tarmac in Zurich during the rain. Possibly the others stayed behind because they were oversize and needed to be better protected. Why they went dark for a couple of hours is still a mystery. But it happens.
First step. According to the RSA published govt regulations I was able to find after a very diligent internet search, trophies (or any animal parts) leaving the country are supposed to be inspected and approved by a regional govt veterinarian. Apparently, this is not always enforced when leaving the country with some trophy items in checked or carryon luggage (e.g. warthog tusks or zebra rugs). But as I read it, a vet inspection is required and freight company invoices always charged me for it. I contacted my taxidermist and they couldn't be much help because inspection is typically left to freight shipper. My impression was they were not thrilled with being involved in inspection process. I contacted a couple shipping agents asking how to contact a vet for inspection. Not surprised when I didn't get a response (even less surprised later on). So I started looking online for info re RSA govt veterinarians. I was finally able to find a spread sheet of all the vets with locations and contact email. The inspecting vet MUST be from the district where the trophies are processed. There was only one vet for Port Elizabeth where my taxidermist was located and email was returned as undeliverable. I contacted the vet nearest where my safari lodge is located to see if we could bring the stuff to him after I arrived. No, the trophies had to be inspected and crate sealed at the site where they are processed. He informed that the PE vet had recently relocated to New Zealand but he'd find out how to contact his replacement. A few hours later I had an email address. The new vet was obviously a native chap just out of school. He was all over himself trying to be helpful, admitting it was his first time doing trophy inspections and he wanted to do it right. Communication between myself, the vet, my PH, and taxidermist was excellent and arrangements were made to have the trophies inspected in the morning before I arrived at PE airport. We would pick up the crate on the way out of town. But before I boarded the plane to PE in Joberg I received a text from my PH informing me that there was some unexplained problem with the inspection and we would need to pick up the trophy crate when I returned to leave for home. Taxidermist later informed the "problem" was not that serious. The newby veterinarian pointed out that skulls usually go through client country's customs quicker as "finished taxidermy" so they're not confused with dip and pack. He suggested attaching the skulls to a board (any board) which would render them "finished". In fact, I had left instructions for this but overlooked when packing the crate. The taxidermist temporarily hot glued each of the skulls to a small piece of scrap plywood, the vet re-inspected, signed the paperwork, and sealed the crate. Knowing that the crate had to remain sealed, I needed to find a way to attach an AirTag for tracking without opening the box. Before leaving home I made a packing lable that contained the AirTag. It's a scrap piece of 1/4" pine with a pocket on one side drilled with 1.25" forster bit deep enough to hold the AirTag. On the opposite front side I attached a brass plaque with my name, address, etc left over from a gun case project (for obvious reasons I obscured my name in the attached photo).
I kept requesting from vet what his fee would be and how to pay him. He finally responded there was no fee. Hmmm. But why do the freight companies keep billing me for it? I bet if you complain they will just tell you they're billing for freight company person's time to hang out during inspection. Needless to say my taxidermist didn't bill me extra.
So, safari is over and my PH drives us to the taxidermist to pick up the sealed crate and paperwork (they had already emailed me copies). Very important to have digital copies of ALL paperwork for the safari: invitation letter from operator, export and import documentation, airline reservations, etc. Email copies to yourself if necessary. That way even if you get hit by a tsunami or flash flood and loose all paperwork and phone, you can still check your email someplace and retrieve copies. The importance of this will become clear later in the post. At the shop I finally am able to meet the taxidermist and his office manager gal. Two of the nicest folks you'll ever meet. They are quite frank about their initial reluctance about getting involved with inspection. The previous vet was by all accounts a difficult person to deal with. They were impressed with the new guy. At the shop I got to look at the showroom which was impressive. This time they didn't send me images of finished trophies before packing but my previous experience with them didn't make it necessary.
At the airport everything went smoothly. All luggage had to be retrieved at Joberg for checking in for flight to Europe. And of course, the guns have to be rechecked at police station. Don't forget, you have to pick up your guns from oversize baggage area yourself before you can get to the lobby where previously booked gun handling assistant will "guide" through the maze of gun inspection and checking in with airline. Both coming and going the delays at Joberg in getting through passport inspection was unusually long. Making the transfer to PE flight on my arrival into Joberg required almost three hours!
The flight to Zurich went off without a hitch. My phone is Android so I rely on my daughter in Ontario to track the AirTags with her IPhone. She texts: "Dad, your gun case, checked bag, and trophy crate arrived." There's a six hour difference between her time and Europe/RSA. My layover was more than seven hours and plane was delayed leaving by almost an hour. She was still awake and sent a satellite photo of two AirTags at the terminal and one out on the tarmac ... in a downpour. Then she saw the AirTags "go dark." This can mean either no Apple product is nearby to triangulate OR the stuff is loaded and everyone's phone is in airplane mode. We presumed the latter.
I arrived at Pearson (Toronto) an hour late. My daughter is there too. She flew in the day before for a medical appointment and we planned to go home that afternoon on the same flight. As soon as I turned on my phone after landing I see a text: "Dad, your guns and trophy crate are still in Zurich." Checked bag is here. When I get to baggage carousels I head immediately to Air Canada counter to see what happened with the guns. Standing in line with carryon daypack on my back and computer bag on the trolley, I see my red checked bag come down the carousel chute right behind me. I run twenty yards to grab it, turn around ... and the computer bag is GONE! Trolley is still there but no bag. And yes, the computer bag contains the folder with all the trip documentation! Shit! I ran to customs gate to inform them (it's a very distinctive forest green bag with US National Park Service logo on the front). They give me the foreman salute (shoulder shrug) and point me to customs office. I should mention that there are NO SECURITY PEOPLE WHATSOEVER in the huge baggage terminal at Pearson. None! A very helpful young agent at customs office takes me to a vendor where we can print copies of trophy documents, my temporary gun export permit, and my firearms possession license (from email attachments accessed on my phone). That way when my stuff does arrive she can whisk it through customs onto the next flight home. Believe it or not she insisted on paying for the copies herself! Then she walked me up to level three to the police station to report the computer theft. The officer decides he needs to see the crime scene. On the way to the carousels he asked me the time it occured. My daughter's text told me the exact time. As we are walking he sees a security guy coming to work with thermos in hand and they have a brief chat. "Who was that? A supervisor?" No, he works in the surveillance camera dept. "Great! So, we should be able to see who swiped my bag?" Maybe. Then he asks where's my daughter. She texts Starbucks. "Let's go see her first." Interesting. When we get there, he insists I stay and have a coffee. He will go have a look on his own. Odd. About twenty minutes later here he comes ... with my computer bag! "What's the story?" "Oh, someone made a mistake." What mistake? Who? My daughter was more perceptive than her worn out exasperated old father. "Leave it, Dad. You've got your bag." He smiled and nodded. He knew exactly who had it before parking me at Starbucks. Airport staff without a doubt. I'm sure he sorted out the SOB. Me making a fuss would have meant a report etc and we would miss our next flight and be stuck overnight in that sweltering airport (air conditioning has been broke since forever!).
Our flight arrived home late so first thing the following morning I went to the Air Canada desk at our local airport (forget trying to get anyone on the phone!) and was pointed to a phone with a direct line to the baggage section. A very nice fella named Luigi did his best to help me. According to Air Canada the gun case and trophies were still in Zurich. Had to be because that's the last place the luggage tag codes were scanned. But I could show him satellite images of those two tags sitting at Pearson. Apparently both items left Zurich and arrived at Pearson without being scanned. He gave me his personal email and I sent him copies of the satellite images and he sent them to the baggage supervisor at Pearson. Then everyone at Air Canada started ghosting Luigi. Man, that pissed him off. And me as well. I couldn't sleep and at 3:00 a.m. I fired off an official letter to Ontario Firearms Officer laying it all out and threatening to fly back to Toronto in the morning with someone from the media to meet me there. At 6:00 a.m. a restricted number attempted to phone me but my cell was out of gas. They did not leave a message. I suspect it may have been RCMP (federal police). Just after 9:00 a.m. Luigi called and he was delighted to report my guns and crate would be on the next flight out of Pearson. "When there's a threat of media involvement, results tend to happen." Now, how did he know I'd even made that threat? Sure enough, we could see the stuff was finally moving around at Pearson. I guess there is an advantage to living in a country that's a bit overly paranoid about guns.
CBC News is particularly gun phobic and I'm sure they would have jumped all over a story about a couple of rifles disappearing into the Twilight Zone. Air Canada also seems to be constantly on their pimple-picking radar.My guns and trophies eventually arrived in good shape. The gal in customs at Pearson was good as her word. Neither the guns or trophies were held up. I guess it was the red luggage we saw out on the tarmac in Zurich during the rain. Possibly the others stayed behind because they were oversize and needed to be better protected. Why they went dark for a couple of hours is still a mystery. But it happens.
Last edited:
