snakes on a plane, and at customs
Nova flying was the most stressful day ever. when the responsibility of an animals life is tied to your own and it's completely out of your control as to what happens to that animal it's not a good day
here's the breakdown of the day as far as i can remember it
7:00 am - i wake up and get ready to go to the dentist. Nova is awoken and placed in her traveling container [a small blue cooler with holes drilled into it. she is placed in a bag in said container, with two heat packs that would last about 6 hours]
8:00 am - i'm at the dentist and get a phone call. Nova was accepted by Air Canada Cargo although her flight was delayed from 11:35 am to sometime at 1 pm
9:10 am - i catch the train that will, eventually, get me to the airport
11:34 am - i get to the cargo building C4 after switching trains and hopping two buses. Nova's plane is delayed and i need to wait. they let me sit in the lunch room, reading a book, until she would arrive. i get talked to by all the ladies there, though most of them are afraid of snakes and shiver away when they hear that she's what i'm waiting for
1:35 pm - the very nice man that i saw when i first came in came and told me Nova was on her flight and was going to arrive at 2:40
2:40 pm - i stop reading in anticipation on word of Nova
3:52 pm - another very nice older man comes to let me know that she is there, and goes to get her for me. i'm not allowed to take her because she needs to be cleared but i'm allowed to put new heat packs in with her. she feels cold since the old heat packs are now about three hours dead, but she moves and that gives me hope. they give me some forms and tell me to go to customs
4:15 pm - i find the customs building after running around for a little bit. there is a small office in which to sit and a nice looking officer at the desk when i come in. i hand him the forms, and as everyone else, asks what type of snake she is. i let him know and he disappears around a corner and makes a few phone calls. the following is said:
him --> "there are two holds on the snake. one is for the airport, they need to change your address on your account. that's easily done when you get back to them. the other is an agricultural hold. they require a CITES form that specifies her species. you're going to have to get that form and fax it to this number"
me --> " ooook. what is a CITES form? where would i get one?"
him --> "i don't know. i tried to give the agricultural offices a hold but they aren't picking up. you'll have to try and reach them at one of these two numbers. otherwise you may have to wait until tomorrow to get a hold of someone"
me --> "she ... won't survive until tomorrow in her ... container" (and i started crying at this point and time)
him --> "hold on a moment. let me see if i can get a hold of someone"
he then went around a corner and called about 7 or 8 different people to get the agricultural hold off Nova. which happened, eventually. i had stopped crying at this point and just proceeded to look really worn out. he gave me back my forms and told me to make sure that next time i would have this invisible form that i was supposed to find somewhere
5:00 pm - i am returning to the cargo building. there i let them know that my address has to be changed and they proceeded to START the process. however apparently customs had to take the hold off my "account" and they had left for the day. i just looked at the guy and he looked right back and started complaining about how there was a big lack of communication. he disappeared around the corner and tried to fix it for me. the older man that had brought Nova to me earlier came back and was outraged that i was still waiting to take Nova home. he was aware that she needed to be warm and didn't like the idea that she was getting cold
6:20 pm - i'm finally back at the train station at the airport. Nova is with me, and not happy at the slightest. i am getting ready to get on a train that will finally take me home. my stomach is now grumbling since i haven't eaten all day due to my doctors appointment
8:00 pm - finally at home, eating, and Nova is safely exploring her tank here. my mother had ran around the house for a little bit and gathered around all the plastic hiding places she could had and put them in the tank. in the end Nova liked a bit circular dome and i liked my dinner
moral of the story - never fly animals. at least not through a border. ever