U.S. Mantis Permit info

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Jay

Jay

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The following was posted by DeShawn a while ago on the insect forums. I do realize it is a little outdated but I thought it would be applicable to this forum. I did talk with Wayne Wehling myself in 2003 about importing flies and at the time he was pretty reluctant about the idea of importing mantis species. Perhaps things have changed?

"Mantis Permits:

Posted by: deshawn at Wed Sep 17 13:57:50 2003

As many of you may know, you need to have a permit to import/keep any non-native US species of mantids. Until recently, I thought there was a cost involved, but there is not!

It takes about 4-6 weeks to get a permit. It is also illegal for breeders to sell exotic mantids here in the US to people without permits. Now I know what you guys are thinking..."who cares" right? True, no one cares about getting a permit because its not like this is enforced. I have never known anyone to get fined for having mantids. I just thought I would let you guys know where to get a permit as it would allow you to import ootheca and LIVE MANTIDS (woohoo!) without fear of them being confiscated.

The guys name I talked to is Wayne. His contact information is:

Wayne Wehling

Entomologist

USDA APHIS PPQ

4700 River Rd, Unit 133

Riverdale, MD 20737

(301) 734-8757

To get the permit, go to http://www.aphis.usda.gov/ppq/permits/ and at the bottom click on PPQ FORM 526 (Application for Permit to Move Live Plant Pests or Noxious Weeds ) Download the form (will need acrobat reader) and print it out. Mail or fax the information to the address provided on the form. The fax number is 301-734-8700. You can attach another piece of paper to include more species you are breeding and importing.

Anyway, good luck to you all. Maybe now we can get some more species into the US!! "

-----

Mantis Kingdom

 
I apologize for the bad link. I should have checked that. It has been a year since I accessed the link and they have changed how you get to the permits from there. Here is a direct link to the form as of today: http://www.aphis.usda.gov/ppq/forms/ppqform526.pdf

The permit is a form that allows the user to request from USDA-APHIS a permit to import, ship interstate, or release. I doubt that a release would ever be permitted. I have not yet filed this paperwork yet- I currently have native species. Again, it has been a while since I talked to anyone at APHIS. If anyone could shed light on how likely it is that APHIS would approve importation I would greatly appreciate it.

 
Hi! Thanks for the info. I've found the form before, but I have a few questions about it.

The permit asks the intended use of the insect and to outline specific research. How specific do you need to be? Can a hobbyist get a permit or do you need to use the insects for education or research?

Also it asks who the supplier is. I assume the supplier needs to have a permit too, is it difficult to to find mantid and other insect suppliers with permits?

Does anyone here actually have one of these permits?

 
Hi! Thanks for the info. I've found the form before, but I have a few questions about it. The permit asks the intended use of the insect and to outline specific research. How specific do you need to be? Can a hobbyist get a permit or do you need to use the insects for education or research?

Also it asks who the supplier is. I assume the supplier needs to have a permit too, is it difficult to to find mantid and other insect suppliers with permits?

Does anyone here actually have one of these permits?
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Article I posted says a permit is not needed. I think as a whole we're just confused about the whole issue. The USDA website is not helpful.

 
Hmm. You could always try calling them with questions, xenobug. That's what I did when I wanted to import some curly-winged Musca domestica (house flies) years ago. I even received a letter from Wayne Wehling at the time that I put into an envelope and sent to the seller so that I could import them. But then again, the letter stated that APHIS does not have any regulations on Musca domestica and that they can be allowed to be imported.

 
Article I posted says a permit is not needed. I think as a whole we're just confused about the whole issue. The USDA website is not helpful.
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The article you posted relates to domestic shipping of invertebrates, and as you correctly note, domestic shipping (that is, shipping within the U.S.) of mantids does not require a permit.

This is a separate issue from the *importation* of mantids (that is, shipping from outside the U.S. to a location inside the U.S.), which probably requires some kind of permit/permission.

Anthony

 
I apologize for the bad link. I should have checked that. It has been a year since I accessed the link and they have changed how you get to the permits from there. Here is a direct link to the form as of today: http://www.aphis.usda.gov/ppq/forms/ppqform526.pdfThe permit is a form that allows the user to request from USDA-APHIS a permit to import, ship interstate, or release. I doubt that a release would ever be permitted. I have not yet filed this paperwork yet- I currently have native species. Again, it has been a while since I talked to anyone at APHIS. If anyone could shed light on how likely it is that APHIS would approve importation I would greatly appreciate it.
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I believe this is the wrong form. This deals with "plant pests" or insects that affect plants like bees/medflies or eat plants like say, caterpillars. Instead, I believe that what people want to do is import a mantis--which means using this form: http://www.fws.gov/le/pdffiles/3-177-1.pdf

And you should look at this page:

http://www.fws.gov/le/ImpExp/CommWildlifeImportExport.htm

Shipments must go through a designated port and there are inspection fees. Again, that info is in the above link.

Anthony

 
What my main question is is it legal to KEEP non native mantids? I'm not importing anything into the country but would like to know if merely possessing non native mantids is legal.

 
What my main question is is it legal to KEEP non native mantids? I'm not importing anything into the country but would like to know if merely possessing non native mantids is legal.
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Generally speaking, from the research I've done, simple possession isn't a violation of any Federal law, although there may be a State law in place. Let me summarize what I've found so far:

I started here:

http://www.wws.princeton.edu/ota/disk1/1993/9325/932503.PDF

There's a patchwork of laws in place, and essentially, the Federal law dealing with illegal importation/possessions is the "Lacey Act," http://www.animallaw.info/statutes/stusfd16usca3371.htm which makes it illegal to possess an animal (including an insect invertebrate) which has been illegally collected, transported or sold. It's highly unlikely that any country has a law prohibiting the collection of a mantid (even Connecticut, where Mantis religiosa is the state insect), and as you've already noted, it's legal to *domestically* ship a mantid, so the only issue of illegality under the Lacey Act might be the illegal importation of a mantid. However, most exotic mantids these days seem to come from egg cases already in the U.S....so essentially there doesn't seem to be any violation.

More on the Lacey Act here: http://www.animallaw.info/articles/ovuslaceyact.htm

Now, what states and the Federal gov't often use are "clean lists" and "dirty lists" to decide what is legal. A "clean list" could be thought of as lists of animals that are okay to import/transport/own, while a "dirty list" is essentially a list of bad animals. I couldn't find a single list banning mantids as bad animals. Conversely, I couldn't find a clean list with mantids, other than the domestic shipping thing you cited.

The Federal Gov't uses the Code of Federal Regulations or CFR as way of taking the law (the 16 USC 3771 cited above) and creating the way that law will actually be implemented. For animals , that can be found at 50 CFR, primarily parts 14 and 16.

See here: http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text/text-...r14_main_02.tpl

Bottom line: There's no specific Federal law prohibiting the ownership of a mantis, unless that specific mantis was illegally imported, i.e. someone made a false declaration to get it into the country, which would then make the ownership of the illegally imported mantis a violation of the Lacey Act, even if that mantis were subsequently sold or transferred to someone else. Local laws vary, but it's extremely unlikely to be a violation of local laws to have an exotic mantis. Domestically hatched exotics appear to not be covered at all by the Lacey Act, as near as I can tell.

Luckily, mantids are predators and are generally viewed as beneficial because they consume harmful insects like mosquitoes, flies, aphids, etc.

Finally: a disclaimer. I am not a lawyer, so this post should not be construed as legal advice, merely a pointer to existing laws.

Anthony

 
Rick said:
Article I posted says a permit is not needed. I think as a whole we're just confused about the whole issue. The USDA website is not helpful.
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But still, you always must have a permit to keep exotic mantids in the state of florida right? If I have to have a permit, I would get one beacuse I only want to keep exotic mantids just for fun! Are there any certin requirements for a regualer person person living in the state of Florida to get a permit? :huh:

 
MANTIS DUDE said:
But still, you always must have a permit to keep exotic mantids in the state of florida right? If I have to have a permit, I would get one beacuse I only want to keep exotic mantids just for fun! Are there any certin requirements for a regualer person person living in the state of Florida to get a permit? :huh:
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That is the thing. Nobody really knows if you need one or not. If there were permits to be had you wouldn't get one and neither would I. Mantis keeping is a huge gray area.

 
Rick said:
That is the thing. Nobody really knows if you need one or not. If there were permits to be had you wouldn't get one and neither would I. Mantis keeping is a huge gray area.
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So the best thing for me to do would be to stick to the native chinese mantid for a while until I get a little more information? Or do you think it would be ok just to get a non native peacock mants? In any case, I would never let a non native sp go into the wild.

 
MANTIS DUDE said:
So the best thing for me to do would be to stick to the native chinese mantid for a while until I get a little more information? Or do you think it would be ok just to get a non native peacock mants? In any case, I would never let a non native sp go into the wild.
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Only thing I can say is keep exotics at your own risk.

 
HEllo ALl,

To add a litle bit to what Anthony sited before.

You need to have an APHIS and a Fish and WIld life permti to import MAntids, even if they are not pest, they are regulated in the same cathegory.

You also need a state permit that allows you to move your exotic mantis from state to state.

The list of Classroom inverts is old and therefore not a good answer to our questions.

the other list of inverts that can be MOVED without a permit through the state is only good for the listed species. Other States have other rules.

SO to Sum up.

KEEP MANTIS AT YOUR OWN RISK, AS EVERY APHIS AGENT WILL INTERPRET THE LAW DIFFERENTLY.

FRANCISCO

 
dont think anyone would want to confess to that kind of question knowing anyone can be reading these boards even those organizations!

 
I have never heard of anyone being arrested for owning exotic mantids in the US

I have never heard of anyone who doesn't professionally deal with insects on a large scale being issued a permit.

By inviting federal scrutiny you greatly enhance the chance of having your mantids confiscated.

Rick has talked with federal agents and reported what he discovered extensively in this forum. Read what he has to say.

An application for a permit requires you to list the names and contact information for those from whom you obtained your mantids. I doubt if many on this forum would be happy to be identified to the authorities as an exotic mantis breeder.

And a question for you. Why do you write "arse" with the English spelling? :)

 

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