Tips to bring your specimens home from the field - 1. paperwork and airlines

Tips to bring  your specimens home from the field 

First installment: paperwork and airlines

Ah, the great outdoors! The fun field trips! Battling mosquitoes, scorpions and other critters to collect precious specimens back to your lab for analyses... How virtuous you feel when you are packing it all up for return to your home lab. And then it happens: your package (especially if you are using packaging a little out of the ordinary, like, say, a cryogenic dryshipper) is held back right there and then, at the airline counter. 

Quite...

What to do??? How can you prevent this?! The answer to all those questions is: you most often cannot and have no recourse. So better have a panoply of back-up plans.

Traveling light is (often) not an option on a field trip

Here are a few tips for all of you, bio-explorers of the wilderness!

First of all: paperwork, paperwork, paperwork!

 The CDC permit:

- Before you leave for the field (and I mean a couple of MONTHS beforehand), you MUST apply for a CDC permit to re-enter the US with biological specimens. If in doubt, contact the CDC itself. Most of the agents at the CDC will not only be friendly, but helpful. Better be safe than sorry!

Affix the permit clearly to your container. It will be inspected by Fish and Wildlife at the first US airport of entry you get to (i.e. if you fly from Lima, Peru to NY JFK via Houston International, your inspection will take place in Houston)

The Collection Permit

- The first thing to do when you get to your field country is to go directly to the ministry/government body/organization that provides collection permits. Usually, the ministry of Forestry tends to be the place to get the permits. But it changes from country to country. Make sure you have communicated with people in charge in your country of collection well before leaving for the field. No one likes surprises. Government employees even less. The ministries (or whatever body) will tell you if there is a cap on what you can collect, but you may also receive some useful tips on the region and wildlife in general.
Know that: 

• Collecting permits are generally vague in terms of number of specimens (unless there is a restriction), but often very strict and precise on what species you will collect. So make sure you have your list ready before making the journey to the ministry.  
• You cannot start your collection before having your collecting permit (duh)!

The Export Permit

- A collection permit alone will not allow you to export the samples/specimens back to the US. In most cases, the country hosting your collecting trip will require that you present a VERY DETAILED list of specimens collected (may even ask to check that physically) and then, only then, will issue the export permit that will allow you to bring the samples back to your home country.
Know that:

• Have a local contact (a colleague who knows about your research, for example). That is a MUST. And it fosters collaboration and friendship. Wins all around.
• The process of obtaining the export permit can take 1 week at best, several months (or years) at worse. So plan your expedition accordingly: add 1 week for paperwork processing, or get in touch with the local Natural History Museum where you can temporarily leave your specimens while waiting for the export permit.

New awesome friend! © Davalos Lab photo

• To reduce the amount of time at the paperwork step of your trip, do everything in person. Phone calls and emails can be easily ignored. Walk inside the buildings where permits are processed with a big smile, and ask people around. It pays off. And you make new friends!
• Be nice. Be patient.
• The export permit MUST match your physical specimens count EXACTLY (if it does not, and you think 'well, 2 wing punches from the same bat = 1 specimen of x species', your specimens may be seized upon entering the US - see US FISH AND WILDLIFE below). If you have 24 vials (even from the same organism), you have 24 specimens. Daz it.
• If you plan to have specimens go in two or more separate shipments, you must get as many original copies as there are shipments (i.e. specimens shipped in three different shipments = 3 original permits that match the specimens in the shipments). 
• Make plenty of copies/scans of the original permit(s), and keep your originals like a dragon keeps its eggs. Fiercely. Only originals will do when it comes to declaring your specimens at the border (see FISH AND WILDLIFE below).

Now that you are permitted up the wazoo, you are ready to take your flight back.

Yay! Export permits! © Davalos Lab photo

Flying Back!

You have made it to the counter of your favorite airline with your heap of luggage. 

If your specimens package is innocuous and inconspicuous (i.e your specimens are dry or in a special, non-flammable buffer), you will have no problem.

Whatever media your samples are in, however, ALLOW AT LEAST 5 HOURS BEFORE DEPARTURE at the airport. You may need EVERY minute of those extra hours to convince the airlines to take your samples or explain your specimens to the local Customs.

If you are carrying specimens in dry-ice or in a cryogenic dryshipper or in a flammable buffer, things will rapidly heat up at the airline counter. 

Know that:

• If you are transporting specimens in ethanol or any type of alcohol or flammable reagents, you must check first and foremost the FAA and then IATA (particularlay for infectious or potentially infectious samples) site beforehand to see 
• Here are some great resources on HOW TO PACK specimens:
• http://FAA Biological specimens, non-infectious, in preservative solutions
• IATA Transport Of BiologicalSamples (infectious): Air Transport
• FedEx International Transport of Biological Specimens

• If you have a dryshipper, FAA authorizes its transport in cargo. And here is the link for it: FAA cryogenic dryshipper rules. However, know that the airlines reserve the right to put your cryogenic on board their planes or not. And no matter how many times you show them that FAA or IATA allows it on board, if they say no... it means no. There is no recourse. 

If your samples are refused by the airline or by Customs

It is important to know that specific countries, especially countries with a high drug traffic problem, will not allow a filled cryogenic dryshipper to be flown out. Cryogenic dryshippers cannot be checked by dogs, and therefore cannot be checked for drugs. Same may go if you have a fully sealed-up package with dry-ice.

Also know that it is perfectly in any airlines' right to refuse your specimens to be carried in their cargo. There is no recourse for this.

Being refused to fly with your specimens by the airline or Customs is exactly when having set up a nice relationship with a local colleague will help. In fact, it is always prudent to have said colleague accompany you to the airport on your journey back in case of airline/Customs refusal. You can ask the colleague to take the samples back and hold the samples at their work place until you are able to arrange shipping.

If you do not have a colleague, your only option will be to use a carrier like FedEx or UPS international to ship your samples. 

• FedEx
• UPS
• World Courier (a word of caution about World Courier - while the company used to be a gold standard in shipping biospecimens around the world, their recent change in management has affected their performance greatly. I would not personally endorse them after two dreadful experiences with them)

Important Note: when shipping with FedEx and UPS, or talking with said companies agent to ship your specimens, it is always best to label your specimens as "Zoological specimens" and not "Biological specimens". The latter always carry an "infectious" connotation.

Re-entry into the US and the US Fish & Wildlife

You are now sipping your soda in the plane, relieved that all your precious samples are somewhere on-board in cargo. The plane descends on your home destination: aaaaaah... home sweet home.

Well.... almost. 

If you are flying back to your home destination with connections, allow at the very least 4 hours between your first US port of entry and your next connections. Why? Because it is at the first US port of entry that you will have to declare your specimens. 

Always wondered why anyone would go in the "Something to Declare" line? Well, that's your line now! 

Make sure that your route goes via a 'port of entry' or you will face a world of hurt at Customs.

As you enter the US, two agencies will be inspecting your specimens at Customs: the US Fish and Wildlife (USFW - the most important for zoological specimens) and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). You won't need a permits from the USDA (unless you are bringing plants). 

But you WILL need a US Fish and Wildlife permit, called a 3-177 permit, preferably filled out beforehand, but know that you can file after having gone through the inspection (the timespan from arrival to filing is tight though, so make sure to follow the rules as stated by your inspector).

© US Fish and Wildlife

In my experience, Houston and New York JFK are the two most efficient port of entry if you are transporting biospecimens. The USFW officers in both cities are both the most knowledgeable and also the most courteous *thank you, officers!*.

Remember that both USDA and USFW officers have to deal with A LOT OF CRAP all day long, from people blithely unaware of the import rules to people trying to import things illegally. SO: BE NICE, SMILE and HAVE ALL OF YOUR PAPERWORK (collection, export and US 3-177 permits) ready for inspection.