Mailable Live Animals
pe.usps.com
pe.usps.com
If you want a real ant farm, you need to either collect ants locally, or buy ants in person from someone who did themselves. And you'd better known the rules if you want to cross state lines with your ants.
(Source, I have a teenager who loooves ants and knows everything about them. He now has multiple species of ants that he keeps.)
Are ants similar to bees in that there's one egg-laying "queen" that you have to gather, or can you just gather a collection of individuals from a colony?
Your kid probably already knows about this, but have him check out the YouTuber AntsCanada. I'm not particularly into ants but I find his videos fascinating.
Yes, most ants are similar to bees in that way. In fact ants and bees are very closely related. But a few kinds of ants (for example the invasive Argentine ants), can have multiple queens in a colony that cooperate with each other.
The reason for this rule is the ease with which ants become invasive species, and how much damage they can do.
But if it comes to ants, I'm willing to bet money that he knows it.
I remember being at a bug fair with him a few years back. There was a grad student with a display including some fossilized ants. My son came over, looked, identified the genus, began pointing out the identifying characteristics and named multiple related current species. The grad student's jaw dropped open. The only things that the grad student knew which my son didn't was how old the fossil was and where it was found.
And here is some fun trivia. If you look, between the thorax (where the legs grow) and the gaster (the bulb at the end), there is a very, very skinny petiole. The only food that can pass through that and keep the ant alive is high energy fluid. So a major problem for every species of ant is how to turn the world around into such a fluid so that they can eat it.
[0] https://tarheelants.com/pages/ant-queen-and-colony-adoption
I wish they were legal a decade ago when we were trying to figure out how to buy ant farms...
I know as humans our impulse is to “do something about it”, but I think insects are gonna be fine.
Take bees/pollinators. Another species could evolve or otherwise step in to fill the gap, but it could well result in many other plant and animal species also going extinct in the process.
Similar scenario with climate change. The earth will continue to exist and there will continue to be weather. But that weather could be a lot more inhospitable to our very narrow definition of habitable.
For example through most of Los Angeles, if you see an ant it is probably an Argentine ant (Linepithema humile). Over my son's life, the variety of native ants to be found near me has visibly declined.
Not everything is about climate change.
I'm familiar with US laws because I live under them.
Reading up on his background, I wonder if he just snapped and killed the guy out of anger for whatever reason and then started cannibalizing the corpse so that he could play the mental illness card at court.
It is likely this is largely true, even if not formally banned from driving, so the answer is probably yes to your hypothetical they should go to prison, or pulling the normative phrase out, likely would go to prison (subject to many mitigating factors).
Even if we accept your premise that having a mental illness precludes one from taking responsibility for their actions, you still have to deal with the fact that they are a serious danger to society. One of the uses of prison is to take people who would otherwise murder and eat people and remove them from society, so that they can't do that.
The box was found sitting on the sidewalk a few blocks away, with the heads still in it.
One can only imagine what went through the thief's mind when he opened his "prize".
Body parts are only super custody tracked when they are still viable lifesaving tools (ie organ transplant). Besides that they aren't a huge deal.
My friend was stationed in Hawaii. She mailed me a coconut. No box, just a stapled a first-class shipping label to it. Delivered without issue.
I guess the USPS finally just started sending them any mail with a sufficiently confusing destination address.
I have to know.. :)
*EDIT: ahhh, non-linear commenting! I went to the wired article from the other comment and found what you're referring to. I thought maybe they mailed it with a picture... they mailed it with an address?! that's one hell of a stress test.
At one time you could send human children by US Mail as well.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/brief-history-chil...
When I had security clearances involving classified documents and dealt with radioactive materials, BOTH of those were shippable by US Mail also.
We set them aside from the other boxes, near the counter where students would come to pick up their packages. It sat there buzzing quietly all day and generating a lot of surprised looks. Pretty neat.
So, most probably those chicken would end having a happy life destroying carefully the backyard of somebody, one scratch at a time.
There is also a special kind of fishes that lay eggs that can travel perfectly without water in an envelope.
I've had chicks shipped to me this way and it didn't appear to be traumatic at all for them. They grew into happy, healthy birds.
But then you go on to pretend to do exactly that.
You’re projecting a negative human experience onto birds.
I'm dubious. There is well-established research on the importance of imprinting for new-born chicks across a wide variety of bird species. Therefore, even if the chick spends most of its time asleep, I would want to see research saying that there is no problem due to intentionally depriving the chick of an appropriate target to imprint on.
It's pretty neat and kind of surprising at first. Of the hundreds of birds we've received via USPS, none of them were DOA.
Clearly, what the world needs is one for animals. One month: adorable baby chicks. Peep peep. Next month: S C O R P I O N S.
As a chicken owner myself, I've heard far too many sad stories of people implulse-buying a chick at a hardware store or livestock show, only for it to perish soon after due to easily-avoided oversights or misunderstandings.
Someone shipped a small alligator once. It peed in the cardboard box it was in and it got wet enough for it to escape inside a sorting machine. Imagine his surprise when he opened up the machine to see what was causing the errors.
> Uncle Milton Industries has been selling ant farms to children since 1956. Some years ago, I remember opening one up with a friend. There were no actual ants included in the box. Instead, there was a card that you filled in with your address, and the company would mail you some ants. My friend expressed surprise that you could get ants sent to you in the mail.
> I replied: “What’s really interesting is that these people will send a tube of live ants to anyone you tell them to.”
https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2008/03/the_security_...
Poultry that is not more than 24 hours old and is presented for mailing in the original, unopened hatchery box from the hatchery of origin. The date and hour of hatching is noted on the box by a representative of the hatchery who has personal knowledge thereof. (For Collect on Delivery (COD) shipments made by a hatchery for the account of others, the name or initials and address of the hatchery or the Post Office box number and address of the hatchery must be prominently shown for this standard.) Box is properly ventilated, of proper construction and strength to bear safe transport in the mail, and is not stacked more than 10 units high. Day–old poultry is mailed early enough in the week to avoid receipt at the office of address (in case of missed connections) on a Sunday, a national holiday, or the afternoon before a Sunday or national holiday. Day–old poultry can be delivered to the addressee within 72 hours of the time of hatching. Day-old poultry sent via surface transportation, must include special handling service fees, in addition to regular postage. Day-old poultry sent via air transportation must meet all provisions of the airlines. Delivery of the mailpiece is dependent on the availability of air carriers having available equipment to safely deliver the day–old poultry within the specified time limit. Day–old poultry that is first shipped via a commercial air express or air cargo service and then presented for mailing to a final destination must be in good condition and properly packaged as specified in 526.32a-e. Boxes of day–old poultry of about identical size, securely fastened together to prevent separation in transit, may be accepted for mailing as a single parcel, provided the total length and girth combined does not exceed Postal Service limits.
"A mailpiece marked “If Undeliverable, Abandon” may not be accepted for mailing."
In other terms, you cannot put a dead animal in a box, then give it to the UPS for them to dispose of. I wonder how many people abused this particular "loophole" before they closed it.
But yeah, when they introduced that fee, my wife's family just started burying newborn lambs that didn't survive, rather than, y'know, fedexing them to people.
The postal worker I eventually talked to had a desk in a little office where she seemed to be sorting out issues for people like me. I think my case was a pretty mild one, but she kept getting calls from people about some live chicks which were somehow stuck there. It did not seem like fun.
The post office is amazing. They are true unsung heroes.
Makes the idea of keeping pet insects that no store or breeder sells near you a lot more affordable, which is nice, since a lot of insects make such easy and practical pets.
I once mailed a cat via Delta Airlines. Brought the kitty in a carrier to a special desk at the airport with the forms and certificates and a fist full of cash and a few hours later, he was in New York.
I know that sharks and elephants and such can be shipped via FedEx, but I don't consider that "mailing" because the handlers stay with those high-value critters.
Lots of paperwork issues, but occasionally random zoo animals turn up on planes due to misdirected air cargo/shenanigans. As well as the scheduled exotics and tons of domestic animals to be quarantined.
Far less handlers than you'd expect for the exotics. Mostly just really sturdy crates.
Used to be available streaming.
https://www.improbable.com/airchives/paperair/volume6/v6i4/T...
I wonder what happens if you sneak a few more non-queen honeybees?
There's a very high mortality rate as they're poached and shipped to people who have no idea how to care for one.
https://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/no-pygmy-marmo...
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.history.com/.amp/news/maili...
This was because there were not clear guidelines regarding what you could mail.
i love doing the ‘ol “oops i’m gonna drop it” routine as i walk out the door past the horrified people standing in line to buy stamps
It seems so improbable in retrospect thay I wonder how much I confabulated.
Anyway, virtually all animal shipping happens via Express Mail. So it became my problem to handle most cases involving animal shipping. I worked this job for about 2 years. I will tell you that every day animals die within the USPS. The vast majority die not because of the actual USPS, but because the people shipping the animals did it improperly.
Here's a short list of specific cases I remember:
- Someone shipped a baby alligator. They didn't mark it as live animal (because they thought it wasn't allowed) or ship it appropriately. The alligator chewed through a portion of the box by the time it arrived at the destination post office. A worker looked through the hole and discovered what they thought was a puppy, so they opened the box to save it and saw it was an exhausted alligator. Local animal control was called and the alligator wasn't able to be saved. Animal control disposed of the body. Alligators are actually very commonly shipped and are legal to ship, so if this person had done it correctly the animal would probably have survived.
- Rare butterflies were sent from Vietnam via international first class mail, when the box arrived it was flat and all the butterflies were dead. It got escalated to me because no one in first class mail knew how to handle animal cases. I remember this case in excruciating detail because the recipient continued to call and harass me for 3-4 months after this happened. This was a weird borderline case because it was international mail where the sending PO (in Vietnam) allows sending of these animals but local PO (in USA) didn't allow receiving of these animals. The guy was hellbent on getting reimbursed for non-insured first class mail. He claims he spent $10,000 on the butterflies. Since it wasn't insured we never researched the legitimacy of this amount, nor did he receive any compensation. Eventually Postal Inspectors were called just because of his continued harassment.
- Baby Chickens are commonly shipped. I don't remember any specific cases because in spring time I was handling 5-10 of these cases EVERY DAY. They also commonly do not survive, even when properly handled and shipped. So get your insurance if you order baby chicks. These are some of the easiest insurance reimbursements I have seen, they get approved faster than almost anything else in the USPS. It's insanely common.
- Someone shipped a salt water fish of some kind. The fish survived the transport but the recipient said the fish refused to eat because it was so traumatized from our shipping methods. So the fish went on a hunger strike and died a week or so later. They had spent $1,500 on the fish and wanted reimbursement. His reimbursement was denied.
- Someone shipped a fertilized Ostrich Egg. They packed it in bubble wrap and had some of those hand warmers inside that you use when skiing. When it was accepted by the recipient, they opened it and discovered the egg had cracked during shipment. Pretty standard boring case at first glance. But the reason I remember it is because the insurance claim was originally rejected because Ostrich was a non-indigenous fowl. Then the recipient sent back a 20 slide powerpoint to me that they created which proved that Ostriches are actually considered farmed-poultry (who knew?). So then I passed it through as approved but it was denied again because of improper packaging. Eggs have to be sent in "hatchery" packaging. I don't think that person ever got their insurance claim.
- Puppies. People actually try to ship puppies via USPS. Please do not do this ever. You will have Postal Inspectors called and they will fine you and charge you with a felony & animal abuse. Same goes for kittens, although for some reason puppies were more common than kittens. Both are big no-nos. Luckily these usually get caught early on at the origin post office or at the initial sorting facility, so many have been "saved" before they passed away. Animal Control retrieves the animals and they go to the pound/shelter. Either way Postal Inspectors get involved 100% of the time in these cases. So its a sure-fire way to get charged with a felony. I remember 2 cases where I was actually able to find lost puppies and save them. One time I spent close to 8 full hours tracking them down. They still go to animal control when they are found, they do not continue onto the recipient. The second time we found the lost puppies it was because the destination PO discovered them and called the police and the Postal Inspectors directly, but never updated the tracking. So the puppies were safe (I think one died in that case).
- Bees are very commonly shipped and they make it safely through the mail system 99% of the time. They actually pack them up and store them very well.
So what happens when a package gets lost? Well live-animals have the highest priority in the USPS' case management system. So even if I was behind on cases and working on cases that were submitted days ago, as soon as an live animal case comes in, it immediately moves to the next case above everything else. So they are handled promptly. As a case worker we usually actually picked up the phone to call sorting facilities when we were dealing with a lost animal as opposed to sending emails like usual for information. I'd say we tracked down around half of all lost animal claims. Some would get discovered "too late", and many would just get lost for good.
What happens when a deceased animal is discovered? If it was an approved animal then it would go to the recipient as usual, sometimes with a note. If the animal was unapproved (like a snake or turtle for example) then Postal Inspectors are called. If it was a larger animal or a mammal like a puppy or kitten, then animal control is usually called to handle the body.
Lastly, Ill mention insurance. The way USPS does insurance claims is a headache for everyone. We had a joke when I worked there that the goal was for people to give up on fighting for their insurance claim. Because that is what usually happened. Payouts take 6 months or so on average. There is a lot of back and forth and records need to be immaculate. Most people don't have any proof of what they shipped or the value of what they shipped. So claims were rarely approved.
Last I mentioned "Postal Inspectors". These are actual federal agents that oversee USPS claims. They are essentially federal police officers and they can arrest and charge you with felonies. They investigate all sorts of stuff, like mailing drugs, elaborate mail tampering schemes, and so forth. They also handled cases where extreme animal neglect occurs while shipping live animals. So keep that in mind when you ship a live animal against the rules posted on that site, because you can actually get a felony for it (like shipping dogs and stuff).
Edit: This was nearly 15 years ago, so some practices and rules might have changed since then.
So it's legal to just, say, mail a bunch of stink bugs and roaches and fruitflies to businesses that send you junk mail or <insert business you hate>?
careful with that one - there are interstate restrictions on transporting insects that are unrelated to the USPS.
I always thought about putting one in someone's locker in high school, but never did it.
There are lots of actions that are legal in isolation that become illegal when you do them to other people, particularly when done with malice.
... abuse of customers?
Edit: Whoops, I can’t read!
Goldfish
Tropical Fish
- Fish must be held in a securely sealed primary receptacle.
- Fish must be held in a securely sealed primary receptacle.
- Primary receptacle must be cushioned with sufficient absorbent material to take up all liquid in case of leakage.
- Primary receptacle and absorbent cushioning material must be sealed within waterproof outer (shipping) packaging.