Meeting new friends (how to bring a turtle from Canada to Hong Kong)

 

This is Marley when I first brought my turtle to Hong Kong. He was very curious as to what this cold hard creature was.

As you may already know, we have a lot of turtles at home, most of which are smaller than this one. Marley doesn't really like them, but has learned to live with it. He is afraid that these turtles will take all our love for him away, which is crazy.

This particular turtle I have had for 17 years!!!! It literally grew up with me! He is no afraid of humans, and he loves to swim. He is the only turtle member of the family which Marley is afraid of.... maybe because this turtle isn't scared of Marley. His name is "BIG TURTLE" Very original I know. But his name used to be "small turtle" when he was a baby, but he clearly grew out of it.

I had to ship him back to hong kong from home. For those who are looking to do this! It was hard.!!!! I shipped my turtle from Canada to Hong Kong. not only was this expensive it was also a daunting task with a lot of time constraints.

1) you have to have an import permit from the Agricultural and fisheries department in hong kong which is only valid of half a year.

2) my turtle had to be tested for salmonella first at a local vet in Canada.

3) Then we had to book him a plane ticket to go to hong kong.

4) 2 weeks before his departure, a health report is needed from the local vet
5) I then needed to book and appointment to get the Canadian food and agriculture department to  stamp the health cert to confirm that my turtle is healthy and safe to travel.

6) according to some transportation organization, all animals needed to be traveling in a box cage thing which you can see in the picture, so I had to go out and buy that.

7) because it is a turtle that is traveling and it is cold on the airplane, I got heat packs and towels to keep him warm.

8) He had to be brought to the airport 4 hours before his departure.

9) when he arrived in hong kong, I had to go to the Super Terminal 1 to pick him up. That morning that I went, I thought I was going to the passenger airport, only to find that when I got to super terminal one I was completely lost since it isn't a nice airport with lots of ppl to help you. It is a lot of goods and cargo stacked with a lot of very busy ppl and not much signs for direction.

All in all, It was a horrible experience, but if I had to choose again, I will still choose to bring my turtle back :)