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Mailable Live Animals

pe.usps.com

41–50 of 167 posts

Re: Mailable Live Animals

#41

I’m surprised to not see fish listed. When I was a kid my dad would receive live fish from saltwaterfish.com. They would show up in insulated containers, alive, if a bit stressed. I guess they must’ve come via one of the private mail carriers. Edit: Whoops, I can’t read!

Requirements for "Goldfish" and "Tropical Fish" are listed under the "Small, Harmless, Cold–Blooded Animals" section

Re: Mailable Live Animals

#42
In general we tend to over-pack and over-engineer a lot of our shipping and handling processes. Turns out many things just aren't that big of a deal (like shipping bees).

My friend was stationed in Hawaii. She mailed me a coconut. No box, just a stapled a first-class shipping label to it. Delivered without issue.

Re: Mailable Live Animals

#43
post #18

I love lists like this. I remember waiting for a Greyhound bus and reading the list of prohibited items and imagining the stories behind each one. It ran on for pages. Human heads were not allowed, even if frozen. Martial arts weapons like swords, nunchucks and throwing stars got a section all their own, separate from guns and knives. Each type of bodily fluid was listed separately, lest someone assume that their jar…

There was an incident maybe 30 years ago where a medical school employee went into New York (I think it was) to pick up a batch of human heads to be used for teaching purposes. He left the box in his car while taking care of another errand, and it was stolen.

The box was found sitting on the sidewalk a few blocks away, with the heads still in it.

One can only imagine what went through the thief's mind when he opened his "prize".

Re: Mailable Live Animals

#44

I’m surprised to not see fish listed. When I was a kid my dad would receive live fish from saltwaterfish.com. They would show up in insulated containers, alive, if a bit stressed. I guess they must’ve come via one of the private mail carriers. Edit: Whoops, I can’t read!

They are listed, under “526.6 Small, Harmless, Cold–Blooded Animals”

Goldfish

Tropical Fish

- Fish must be held in a securely sealed primary receptacle.

- Fish must be held in a securely sealed primary receptacle.

- Primary receptacle must be cushioned with sufficient absorbent material to take up all liquid in case of leakage.

- Primary receptacle and absorbent cushioning material must be sealed within waterproof outer (shipping) packaging.

Re: Mailable Live Animals

#45
post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This was probably the gruesome incident that got heads banned: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Tim_McLean

> On February 10, 2017, the Manitoba Criminal Code Review Board ordered Li be discharged. Li was granted an absolute discharge. There will be no legal obligations or restrictions pertaining to Li's independent living.

I understand that mens rea should generally be present in crimes in order for convictions but eight years for doing what he did is itself insane.

Reading up on his background, I wonder if he just snapped and killed the guy out of anger for whatever reason and then started cannibalizing the corpse so that he could play the mental illness card at court.

Re: Mailable Live Animals

#46
post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This was probably the gruesome incident that got heads banned: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Tim_McLean

> On February 10, 2017, the Manitoba Criminal Code Review Board ordered Li be discharged. Li was granted an absolute discharge. There will be no legal obligations or restrictions pertaining to Li's independent living.

0_0

Re: Mailable Live Animals

#47
post #17

> Nonpoisonous Insects So it's legal to just, say, mail a bunch of stink bugs and roaches and fruitflies to businesses that send you junk mail or ?

My parents would mail order bricks of sleeping ladybugs. Put one in the garden and when they thaw out, they eat all the bad insects. I always thought about putting one in someone's locker in high school, but never did it.

You can also do this with praying mantises, but they come as an egg nest. Put them under some leaves and a week or two later baby mantises everywhere eating all the bad things. After a couple months there's always a few big ones that stick around. Surprisingly intelligent and curious little things.

Re: Mailable Live Animals

#48
post #18

I love lists like this. I remember waiting for a Greyhound bus and reading the list of prohibited items and imagining the stories behind each one. It ran on for pages. Human heads were not allowed, even if frozen. Martial arts weapons like swords, nunchucks and throwing stars got a section all their own, separate from guns and knives. Each type of bodily fluid was listed separately, lest someone assume that their jar…

This was probably the gruesome incident that got heads banned: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Tim_McLean

I wish I had not opened that link and read it.

Re: Mailable Live Animals

#49
post #24
post #6

When I worked in a USPS facility, it was always a mix of emotions when a box started chirping. On the one hand, cute baby birds! On the other hand, they’re going through an ordeal right now (they got special non-machine handling, but it still wasn’t pleasant for them to be packed into cartons) and their destination was most likely a factory farm.

Newly hatched chickens can survive without food for more than 24 hours. They only want to sleep and can travel perfectly at this age, so is the usual way for amateurs to buy fancy chicken breeds or small chicken of known sex. So, most probably those chicken would end having a happy life destroying carefully the backyard of somebody, one scratch at a time. There is also a special kind of fishes that lay eggs that can…

I don't see how anyone could possibly know what the subjective experience of being a day-old chick stuffed in a box would be like. But I can imagine what it would be like to be a human stuffed in a box, and that doesn't seem very pleasant. I don't see how the idea that it might be better for birds (who are pretty clearly sentient creatures) could be based on anything other than rationalization and wishful thinking.

Re: Mailable Live Animals

#50
I grew up rural and we fairly frequently ordered chicks by mail. I told the story in college of one time, a message left on our answering machine pleading "please, come get your chicks!" with incessant peeping in the background, as we must have not been at home during the mail delivery. For folks who grew up in the city, even the thought of the whole thing was a very powerful (and funny) story.
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