usfws regulation question

[Kenelm Philip]

	Eric Metzler stated:

>Insects that you carry on your person (or in your luggage) are not
>considered a shipment, and they may be carried freely as long as they
>were legally obtained.

	It's not quite that simple. I have not yet seen the current version
of 50 CFR 14, but in the 1987 version the following exception to import
declaration requirements is given:

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"(b) Except for wildlife requiring a permit pursuant to Part 16, 17, 18, 21,
or 23 of this subchapter B, a Declaration for Importation or Exportation
of Fish or Wildlife (Form 3-177) does not need to be filed for importation
of the following:

.......

(3) WIldlife products or manufactured articles which are not intended
for sale and are worn as clothing or contained in accompanying personal
baggage...."
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	I doubt that scientific insect specimens would be considered
wildlife _products_. A plastic tray containing laminated butterflies
presumably would.  :-)

	Furthermore, part (c) of the same section says:

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"(c) General declarations for certain specimens. Notwithstanding the prov-
isions of [section] 14.61, scientific specimens imported for scientific
institutions for taxonomic of faunal survey purposes may be described in
general terms on the Declaration for Importation or Exportation of Fish or
Wildlife (Form 3-177), provided an amended Form 3-177 specifically describ-
ing the wildlife imported is submitted to the Service within 180 days after
the filing of the general declaration...."
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	All the times that I have crossed the US border from the Yukon to
Alaska carrying insect specimens in my 'personal baggage' I have been re-
quired by the Fairbanks office of the F&WS (enforcement) to file Form
3-177.

							Ken Philip
fnkwp at aurora.alaska.edu