Importing Boat Pets into Australia 101 :
Or
How to Battle Biosecurity Bureaucracy and Empty your Wallet


“A Tale of Misery and Achieving The Ultimate State of Insanity”

A few years ago late one November at a flea (sic) market in Durban in the Republic of South Africa my son, then 11 asked me if we could get a boat kitten. They were all cute and cuddly and full of 6 week old beans. While I munched on a Bouravos sausage I gave him the go ahead and the next day an innoculated, vaccinated and very agile kitten hell bent on destroying the known universe joined the boats crew as ship’s cat. Little did I know how much joy and angst this little bundle of fur would affect our lives.

He was quickly named TIZER the HoP (Hidgeous ole’ Pollywobble) and promptly destroyed every Christmas decoration we could muster except the Christmas Lights and signal flags up the mast that he could not yet reach.


I am not a cat person but as he grew; and as we toured the South Atlantic, South America and into the West Indies he grew on me. He kept watches with me and became affectionate like a dog. He fishes from our sugar scoops and always keeps a close eye on the trolling lines. Early mornings at sea always see him up on the nets retreiving the flying fish and squid. A great help. The down side is keeping up with his toilet manners every morning after a feed of whole fish.

At St Helena Island in the South Atlantic Ocean he fell in for the first of eight times but has now perfected his fishing technique to the extent where we do not have to get up in the middle of the night at anchor to catch, wash and dry one salty wet pussy. By the time we were in Columbia he had fallen in for the last and eighth time and now is quite adept at snarling and catching every piece of flotsam and jetsom that passes by the hulls. He has the run of the boat and can climb the furled genoa and mast faster that I ever could on his midnight meanderings.

All his little foibles and idiosyncracies endeared the cat to all of us so we decided to bring him back to the Land of Bureacracy with us and treat him to a life ashore and aboard. Mistake Number One.

The cat has only ever been ashore in Grenada having a well earned respite at the Dolores Home for Cat Castration and Rabies Vacinnation/Eradication so we did not anticipate any great dramas bringing him back to Oz with us. Mistake Number Two.

We arrived at French Polynesia with a few issues including a lack of rudders and had to be hauled to rebuild, replace, renew and recuperate. Problem Number 1 arose as the cat had to be quarantined. The Pacific Island Nations all seem to have harsh laws regarding pets and French Polynesia is a prime example as most boats arriving are from rabies infested countries. To haul we needed to find another boat that was going to stay at anchor as long as we needed to be out of the water and would look after our small but growing furball. There is no quarantine station in Tahiti and all quarantine is boat driven. This means that anywhere in the Pacific (that we visited) you can never come alongside.

The cat did his penance on another great boat and we finally sailed (with rudders) to finally arrive in Fiji. In Tahiti we began the process of asking how we bring the cat into Australia by contacting DAFF. It appeared so simple and straighforward that it is almost bulletproof. Mistake Number 3.

Round 1. First you advise DAFF of your intended arrival with a pet. Unfortunately it appears that you can only bring a pet into the country through Sydney or Perth so if you wish to make landfall at a different destination like we do, revise your itinerary or be prepared for further heartache. DAFF advised us that it is far easier to export the cat from a category 2 country like Fiji. So be it.

First you need to fill in an application for an Import Permit. DAFF appears to be a “user pays” Department of the Federal Government so the form, once filled in and emailed must be accompanied by a credit card authorisation for a moderately substantial amount of money. But do not make a mistake or you will have to fill in the form again and make a further payment. Also double the payment if it takes longer than 30 minutes to assess. Read the fine print. Mistake Number 4.

But hey, you have a healthy boat cat with no diseases, fulled vaccinated and innoculated and with no dangly bits between his legs and you are used to dealing with bureaucrats so how hard can it get? Mistake Number 5.

After several dozen emails to confirm details, sending in copies of the ships log since the cat arrived aboard you begin to establish yourself as a bonafide pain in the butt to the authorities you may receive an Import Permit. From go to whoa about 3 months. When this illustrious paper is received by email you will then notice a condition attached which will spark off another paperwork trail.

You will be told that as he is not actually going to be imported from another country as he has not lived in any acceptable export country for 6 months and you will need to apply for a “Certificate of Equivalence”. Dig out those ships log entries again; send them along with another credit card authorisation and hopefully you will then be in possession of the required documents to allow the cat to be imported into your native Australia. A Terrorist Taliban General would have an easier time and may even get a change of undies, a free meal or two, the obligatory free mobile with a $50.00 credit to call home and say they had arrived safely.

Home free. But wait there’s more. Now you need to contact the quarantine facility and “book” your cats accommodation. A booking will not be accepted without payment. Get that credit card back out and pay for his 30 days incarceration and nominate dates. Done? Not quite, they will still not fully accept the booking until you supply flight details. Bugger.....

Round 2. Contact the airlines and you will be told that pets can only fly as minifested cargo now so you need to arrange an agent to make a booking. This is the easiest part of the whole scenario except for the credit card which takes a massive thumping once again. The agent has to also contact the quarantine station so that they know you are not kidding them and just throwing money away to have a good laugh. OK, now make his accomodation booking and hope the dates are acceptable.

Round 3. The Import permit you receive has a further 2 qualifiers. Firstly the cat needs to be seen by a government approved vet to certify that yes, it is a cat; it is vaccinated, tick and flea clear, (we do not want them back in Oz as Fiji is infested with Exported Oz ticks and fleas) healthy and has the correct microchip number. This needs to be done within 4 days of the cats departure. Quick, go find a vet and arrange them to visit the boat as the cat is not allowed ashore. Not that easy in Fiji where vets are at a premium. First make a payment on the credit card which is nearing its limit. The second qualifier is a Government Vet of the country of export needs to complete a further check to make sure the first vet did his job properly and to certify that the cat is a cat after all. Standby to enter a further Government Bureaucracy to enable the first bureaucracy’s appetite for paperwork to be sated.

Dealing with Private Enterprise is quite easy, no matter what part of the world you are in so the vet was the easiiest part of the saga. The Australian Import Permit that the vet signs must now be scanned and emailed to the Biosecurity Department in Suva and the originals couriered to his office in Suva for countersigning and the completion of Part B. The second easy part as private couriers are used. But wait......

I now need an Export Permit from Fiji to Australia. Hold on, the cat is not in Fiji, it is basically in quarantine aboard an Australian flagged vessel and I have already received and paid for an Australian “Certificate of Equivalence”. Not to worry, just pay the fee for the permit and we will send it across with the Import Permit and 2 Biosecurity Officers to “escort” your delicate little pussy to the airport freight office. I begin to think that the Biosecurity Departments of Pacific Nations are inextricably linked as the costs and paperwork are fairly identical. Perhaps it is a new, improved user pays service for Pacific bureaucracy biosecurity departments?.

The cats flight is paid and booked. I have one day to get the paperwork couriered around Suva and returned to our base at Port Denarau before the weekend and closure of Government Departments. I have to hand the cat over to his escorts at 0300 Monday morning (now that is going to cost!!!) and then be in Sydney within 30 days to collect him or he gets shipped back to Fiji.

Total cost, around $4000.00; add the stress, premature balding, sleepless nights and added greyness for a Flea Market cat to enter Australia. I only wish I knew this in Durban............................