[Nhcoll-l] USFWS seizure of imports

[Eli Wyman]

Hi Chris et al,

  Thank you for bringing this to our attention. It would be nice if anyone
employed at USFWS would chime in on this (I have to assume there's some in
this group). As you are well aware it is very common for major collections
to receive loan returns etc from abroad without being informed first and
there is no way to know when that will happen. Hence why it has always been
possible to file 3-177s after the fact.

  Has this only happened to you in this one instance? Has anyone else
experienced similar situations recently? I would particularly be interested
to hear of any recent experiences with hand carry events (good or bad) in
recent months since our lab does this frequently, and while we always file
a 3-177 they are typically not cleared by the time of the hand-carry event
just because the wheels of bureaucracy turn slowly.

Thanks in advance,
Eli Wyman
Kocher Lab
Princeton University


On Mon, Apr 21, 2025 at 4:54 PM Chris Grinter <cgrinter at calacademy.org>
wrote:

> Hi all,
> I want to give everyone a warning that the NY USFWS office has been
> seizing packages that do not contain pre-cleared 3-177 documents. I've just
> received an official notice of seizure for a loan that came back from China
> (via NY for some reason). The package was clearly labeled with a
> declaration of specimens, loan for systematic research, etc—however the
> agents at JFK seized the material as a violation of the Lacey Act, failure
> to mark appropriately (lacking 3-177 is how I interpret this), and failure
> to obtain clearance. The package was intercepted in September 2024 and I
> got notice today. No one at the NY office will pick up the phone or return
> my messages.
>
> If you're receiving material from anywhere abroad it's critical to get a
> pre-cleared 3-177 and keep a close eye on the tracking number.
> Unfortunately if a package is seized by USFWS there is no update posted to
> USPS, it just shows as "in transit".
>
> Chris
>
> Christopher C. Grinter
> Senior Collection Manager of Entomology
> Secretary, The Lepidopterists’ Society
> Subject Editor: Lepidoptera, The Pacific Coast Entomological Society
> California Academy of Sciences
> 55 Music Concourse Dr
> San Francisco, CA 94118
> T 415.379.5320
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