From: "Douglas White" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> I have actually had and heard about more problems shipping animals
(fish,
> birds) through the airlines than I had with the USPS ...
It is too bad they don't
> modify there policies.
>
Exactly, Doug. The regulations can be changed by USPS bureaucrats, I
suspect, without Congressional action.
Both bureaucrats and Congress fear the powerful animal welfare lobby,
activists that include everyone from the SPCA to those who break into labs
and destroy years of medical research.
Those people are animal lovers, just like us here on GML except that they
know more. They might have done studies to assess risks to pets
transported through the mail. Their tolerance of the risks for death or
suffering might be less than some gerbil breeders.
I know that you personally ship animals, Doug. You know exactly how to do
it and know that there are risks. I don't worry about you. I have
problems about the breeder wannabes and casual hobbyists.
Think of the gerbils, not the laws. Last year a gerbil was shipped from
Oregon to Texas. A couple months later she was shipped from Texas to
Virginia. The "breeder" didn't even notice that it was a holiday weekend.
That gerbil and another spent five days in a little shipping container
that had been prepared for a 2-day trip. They survived but it wasn't
pretty.
