The Turtles Mailed as Building Blocks, and the Canadian Law That Stops Asking After That
In 2022, officers from the Canada Border Services Agency and Environment and Climate Change Canada intercepted a package of live turtles from China that had been declared as children's building blocks. According to ECCC, it led to the seizure of 63 turtles and 58 turtle eggs from a man in Calgary who had been importing them to sell online. The Calgary Zoo kept two of the turtles, the rest went to a reptile sanctuary in Ontario, and the eggs were euthanized.
AI-generated discussion · Different perspectives
The 1992 act governing this trade was written to control imports, exports and interprovincial movement, and it refers to animals largely in terms of ownership, as specimens; in places, a seized animal is called a thing. It was amended in 2009 to strengthen penalties, sentencing and enforcement power, with those amendments in force from 2017.
WAPPRIITA is a worthy target because it has a review clause and the review has been limited to fines and sentencing provisions. Adding welfare language and minimum accreditation requirements for the facilities that receive animals would at least put the care standard inside the statute instead of leaving it to the enforcement policy in practice.