Dear Ecolog, recently we had a horrible experience. Without being informed, the products of a 3 week trip collecting ants were removed from our check-in luggage in Miami on our return flight to Germany. Around 10 tubes holding 1.5 ml ethanol and a handful of ants were confiscated by TSA (US Transportation Security Administration) and/or our airline (Lufthansa). Both are playing the blame game, so it is not clear what exactly happened. Apparently the identity of the liquid in the tubes could neither be determined, so they were pulled from our luggage. They didn't even leave a note in the bag containing the ants, as they do when they search a bag but remove nothing. What's shocking is that neither the TSA nor the airline contacted us in the airport for the 4 hours we waited after check-in. We never got a phone call or email in the following week. Rather I had to call TSA, who is downright difficult to contact by phone, email or postal mail. Eventually I found a phone number that was never answered by a person, I could simply leave a message. I left at least 3 polite descriptions, but only got a response days later as patience wore off and left an angry message indicating that these specimens were worth in excesss of $6,000 US (the cost of trip). What's worse is that our airline was required by law (at least we were told) to destroy the ants. Although I seem to have convinced them that there was no danger, they would not ship them to us. So that meant that I had to find someone to go pick them up, which fortunately was in Miami and I lived several years in Florida.
I could go on with other details, but I am wondering if anyone else has had similar experiences, especially if a collection has been destroyed. If anyone has legal experience in this area, I would also be interested in hearing your opinions. I would think if this happens frequently enough, there will be an enoromous price tag. If so, maybe we should at least draft a letter to the responsible authorities. I would be happy to be involved with this, but it would be good to have a colleagues from the US, who have had funding from the NSF or USDA and suffered losses or near losses. Even though I am a US citizen, I live and work abroad and we have funding from the German government, thus making it easier for them to disregard. cheeers, Jon Seal Dr. Jon Nicholas Seal Evolution, Verhalten und Genetik Biologie I Universitätsstraße 31 Universität Regensburg D-93040 Regensburg Germany Tel. +49 941 943 3293 Fax +49 941 943 3304 http://www-evolution.uni-regensburg.de/Staff/JonSeal/index_en.html
