Globe Trotting Turtos: History

A tiny history about how the globe trots started...

The globetrots all started when I purchased these two rambunctious Dalmatian Tortoises.

Their great grandparents were originally from Slovenia, but I bought these two chums (born four days apart in May 2010) for fifty bucks from a retired police officer in Southern California who had taken to his hobby of tortoise breeding.

(about 5 months old when the photo was taken)

Bill (the breeder) had teeny tiny brand spanking new hatchlings, but his expert opinion drove him to believe that, at nearly 6 months, these two pups were physically healthy enough to travel.

So he packed them with lettuce, heat pads, in two dixie cups (with holes), in a cardboard box, and off they went with the UPS man!

I received them before Thanksgiving and tore into the box.

We let them loose on the table and they still managed to get into trouble.

I didn't yet have a cage so they spent the night in a spare aluminum tin (left over from the turkey prep) with some heat pads pasted to the corner.

One minor mishap... was that I was living in Tokyo for work, and I had bought the turtos in LA where my mother was based. And i grossly underestimated the bureaucratic processing time!

It literally took two months before Fish & Wildlife even looked at my application, and another month of questioning, document production (he even reached out to the breeder!) before they could issue an export document.

THEN i ran over to the Ministry of Trade in Japan to process import documentation - which took another 2-3 weeks. They were surprisingly flexible to the idea - "Oh okay, pet tortoises. <stamp>". I guess not very easy to come up with questions to ask about pet tortoises that are being imported.

It was close to their first birthday when I finally was able to get back to LA to bring them to their new home in Tokyo (hooray!).

I had shipped in a customized tortoise cage, crafted from wood by a pet shop passionate about tortoises. And the fridge was stocked with 8 bags of leafy greens!

We solicited naming ideas from our friends -- Big Mac & Whopper, Wasabi & Shoyu, Slobodan, Ernest, ..

But in the end, the names that ended up sticking was B.T. (Big Turto) and L.T. (Little Turto)

Finally in their new home

We bought them a "deity" from the aquarium & fish store

The fog machine (to add humidity) ended up smoking them out

More lettuce than they could handle!

tokyo is dry in the winter... we had a tough time keeping humidity up

About three years later, the TortDaddy (my husband) decided he was going to leave his finance job in Asia, and move to sunny Panama (go figure).

So the documentation process begins....

I knew I needed clearance from the CITES organization (having gone through that process already to import them into Japan), so I discover that Trade and Import matters in Panama is handled by ANAM (Autorite Nacional del Ambiente Ministerio). I go through a three week process of receiving Re-export documentation from Japan : they ask for things like photos of the proposed shipping method (crate), birthdays, declaration that I'm not intending to sell the turtos yadda yadda...

So I receive all the documents and prepare an application and send it off to Panama.

Six weeks later.... no reply!

So I hire someone at Elance (I called ANAM myself but after handing me off to about 8 people they hung up on me) and she is able to get through to ANAM and finally let me know that all documents need to be filed in person! ugh.

Not only that but they are going to require all ten papers to be notarized and apostilled. Seriously?

Notaries are not common in Japan and they tend to be old boys clubs, and the standard rate to get anything notarized, is $120 per document (collusion). Plus you have to go to their office during office hours. It's $10 per document in LA - and the notary travels!

So I run to the notary, then the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to get apostilles, and the Elance worker translated all ten pieces of paperwork into Spanish. She has to head into the ANAM office like four times.

We think we're finally in the clear..... then a curve ball!

Panama has never imported tortoises from Japan like, ever, so the Ministry of Sanination (MIDA) want Quarantine documents for the tortoises!

Just to offer some perspective, the movers have already packed up my belongings, and I literally was homeless, traveling around for 7 days when the Fedex finally delivered the Panamanian paperwork back to Japan. And cargo companies refuse to take any animals apart from cats and dogs, and the only company that does wants $1000 to transport the turtos!

small turtos in a big big world

So anyway I suck it up and pay the cargo company and they're able to pack them up and ship them off!

Fragile! Turtos inside

Off they go to Customs

Which is great, since they could only live in that temporary capsule hotel shelter for so much longer.

So they arrive in Panama after a long 2 day transit in Houston! I go pick them up at Tocumen International Airport... and they ask me where are my Quarantine documents? I hand over everything I have : ANAM papers, export docs, letter from the vet, MIDA documents, letter from the breeder, airway bill from United Air, everything. They find the MIDA document and they ask me, "where is the quarantine document from Japan?"

What? why would they need quarantine documents to leave a country..? Sure enough I remember asking United about this, and they ensured me, reptiles don't require quarantine docs neither on the way in or out - and the Ministry of Forestry don't even have a procedure to screen for them!

After 12 hours of deliberation they send me home.

That started the three weeks of nonstop phone calls, emails - to the Japanese Embassy, to the girl from Elance, to the Quarantine office in Japan, the Ministry of Trade in Japan, United Cargo, MIDA, Nittsu (the third party vendor assigned to speak to United).

Bottom line is, they need the quarantine docs from Japan to clear them from MIDA. So the Embassy tries to speak to the Ministry of Forestry in Japan to receive this remotely.

But as they're in discussion, MIDA up and decides to ship them out! All they were concerned about, was getting the terrorist ninja turtos out of Panama. These turtos were FAMOUS

So after a five hour flight they end up in Houston. I ask United if they can get a vet into IAH and issue a vet notice that says they are healthy. I mean, they're indoor turtos - they were bred in captivity, raised indoors, I rarely took them outside because I was scared of parasites, they ate gourmet lettuce in expensive Tokyo at $2 a pop.... HEALTHY!

The vet agrees to do this in Houston... but then the Fish & Wildlife Org finds this out and decides to fine United Cargo $2500! They even threaten to shut them down. Alarmed, United ships the turtos back to Japan, where temp was dropping to around 5 deg C.

So all I need is to just get them to Quarantine and ship them back. Easy right? Wrong.

United Cargo receives the turtos and they are insistent that I find a relative to come pick them up. BUT since they were already exported from Japan, they need to start an importation process to enter back into Japan. So, we decide they will be held at the border free zone within the Cargo terminal at Narita Airport. They're forbidden to leave the premises .. Just like Tom Hanks in "The Terminal".

United agrees to start feeding the torts in their garage. In the meantime I frantically call a petsitter asking to please come to the cargo area to feed them and make sure they're alive after weeks of traveling and living in a dark box.

Meanwhile the Quarantine office in Japan is confused... They've never issued quarantine docs for torts! "What are the officials in Panama needing?" the officer says. My contact at the Embassy of Japan in Panama acts as the liaison, with MIDA and the quarantine office in Japan.. MIDA is just a bureaucratic mess - all they need is some kind of sheet that keeps them exempt from liability so they say a letter from a vet would be alright.

So after searching and searching I finally find a reptile specialist who is willing to travel! I get approval for him to enter the borderless trade free zone.. And the vet comes to examine and collect stool samples. But it's so cold the turtos can't poop..!

the vet administers anti parasite meds - and writes up the letter stating they are parasite free and healthy. What a relief. The petsitter is a hero, helping to transport the turtos within terminals, filling in applications on my behalf (of course Japan asks for a physical application form to be filed in person and no electronic forms.. ten years behind the curve)

After some convincing, United and Nittsu are finally on board to handle the shipment again (the process was so lengthy they were going to kick back the reshipment!)

$1500 more dollars later... the turtos are on their way back to Panama!

I take a ghetto bus from the countryside in Azuero to Panama City and go to the airport again. The turtos are famous! Everyone in the countryside is rooting for the turtos to be set free (Tortugas Libre!)

This time everything goes well - we have been in direct communication for four weeks, after all.