Birds moving to Ireland: Moving with our feathered friend
Immigrating with your parrot or birdie pals? Here’s a great Blog giving you possible direction.
1. You need to apply with SA first for a Cites export permit. Complete the form online and pay the R200 odd fee. I also posted the form and proof of payment to them- see details below. Their turn around time takes up to 3 months. I got mine back in 2 weeks.
Madiba and Government street nest to the Union Buildings, 590 Vredeshus building. This is the address for SA. You have to collect your permit in person. But you can email or post the application to them
2. Once you have the export permit, tthen you send that permit off to Ireland and apply for the import permit. You send this off via email and there is no cost.
Both permits will have an expiry date of 6 months, so you have to fly within that time line or start the process again.
3. The parrot has to be in quarantine for 30 days before you fly (20 of those can be at home with you provided the feather baby is isolated from outside and other animals). 10 of those days will be with the state vet. The state vet stay was all arranged by the agent I used. They also collected her with all the original documents for this quarantine.
3. The agent I used:
Sam from Animal travel agency. They were the cheapest and Sam is amazing.
I paid R19000 including quarantine and clearing agent here in Ireland, so not a bad price. Other agents quoted me R35000 odd. Crazy!
4. The flight
We were going to fly KLM via Amsterdam, but that airline will only allow the feathered babies to fly on the same flight as you. So we flew Emirates via Dubai. They allow you and the feathered baby to fly 5 days apart. Anything more than 5 days, means that they are now considered commercial cargo and there are additional costs and charges.
Also good to know that you can only book their flights 10 days before they fly. Airport policy, I believe. I was also advised that parrots cannot travel with any other animals on the plane as per policy.
With regards to connecting flight, no permit needed. But a mandatory minimum 8 hour delay is required at that airport for additional vet checks. Also something to bear in mind. They have to by law, allow the animal rest and to get fresh food and then vet checks etc. Also another reason they have to fly during the week and cannot be flown over a weekend. So be mindful when booking your flights.
5. Landing in Ireland
You meet the clearing agent at the aiport. There is a certain terminal where you are to meet to collect the parrot. We were allowed to collect her, 2 hours after she landed, as they are cleared and vet checked again.
