CBP Issues Fact Sheet on Avian Influenza (Import Guidelines for Live Birds & Bird Products)
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has posted to its Web site a fact sheet on avian influenza that covers, among other things, the guidelines for importing live birds and bird products into the U.S.
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(According to CBP, avian influenza (AI) viruses can be classified as low-pathogen (LPAI) or high-pathogen (HPAI) based on the severity of the illness they cause in poultry. A strain of HPAI known as H5N1 has caused the deaths of hundreds of millions of birds, both by disease and by preventive measures such as culling.)
Guidelines for the Importation of Live Birds & Bird Products
Listed below are CBP's guidelines for importing live birds and bird products:
Live Birds
All imported live birds (other than from Canada) must be quarantined for 30 days at a USDA quarantine facility and tested for the avian influenza virus before entering the country.
Live poultry or commercial birds imported from Canada are not required to be quarantined when presented at a land border port of entry. However, a valid veterinary health certificate issued prior 30 days of importation and endorsed by a full-time salaried veterinarian of the Canadian government must also accompany commercial bird shipments. Inspection by Veterinary Services (VS) personnel at the port of entry is also required.
Pet Birds
All non-U.S. origin pet birds must enter the country and undergo quarantine at only three designated ports of entry (New York (718) 553-1727); Miami (305) 526-2926; Los Angeles (310) 725-1970).
U.S. origin pet birds that have been out of the U.S. for 60 days or less require USDA veterinary inspection at port of entry but are not required to be quarantined. However, quarantine applies to returning U.S.-origin pet birds from HPAI H5N1 affected countries.
Those importing pet birds into the U.S. from Canada by air or by boat are required to have a USDA import permit (VS Form 17-129).
Pet birds on vessels (other than U.S. & Canada origin pet birds) must remain on the vessel, below deck, and caged within the cabin.
Poultry Products
Processed goods from H5N1 affected countries may enter the U.S. however; entry requires an Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's (APHIS) VS permit and certification that specified risk mitigation measures to eliminate the disease have been performed.
As a primary safeguard, USDA maintains trade prohibition on the importation of poultry and unprocessed poultry products from countries where the HPAI H5N1 strain has been detected.
(See CBP's fact sheet for a complete list, last updated April 12, 2006, of countries affected by avian influenza.)
CBP-listed contacts for avian influenza:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): (800) 311-3435 or http://www.cdc.gov/
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS): (877) 696-6775 or http://www.hhs.gov/
World Health Organization (WHO): (202) 974-3000 or http://www.who.int/en/
CBP fact sheet, dated 08/07/06, available at http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/newsroom/fact_sheets/travel/avian_influenza.xml