Christmas reindeer are not merchandise!
Neither are horses! We received an unusual request from a passionate lady in a very critical situation...
Her horse was on its way to Germany for a competition. But on the way from her home country to Germany, her horse collapsed, and was taken to Belgium for surgery. The situation was extremely sad. He died during the operation.
The vet drew up a death certificate, as is required. But, as the horse was of foreign origin and, unfortunately, customs consider animals to be "goods", the customer ran into problems in her country of origin. Basically, her horse was to be temporarily resident in Germany, just for a competition... Not permanently!
So she didn't have to declare it for "export". The customs authorities have problems with our client.
As if death wasn't enough!
Customs couldn't recognize the horse's death without an apostilled "official paper", please.
Otherwise, the customer risked substantial tax fines. We had to obtain the "original" document certifying the horse's death, and they replied: "We can only legalize documents issued, signed, sealed, and dated by a healthcare professional.
The veterinary profession is not included in the regulated healthcare professions. We cannot legalize this document."
And that's where the surreal trick begins:
1 - The FPS Foreign Affairs directs to the FPS Health
2 - The FPS Health declares itself incompetent for animals and directs to the "Service de protection des animaux"
3 - The latter was directed to the AFSCA regional office.
4 - AFSCA Brussels referred first to Antwerp, then to the FPS Foreign Affairs.
Finally, thanks to our entire team, we were able to untangle this atrocious knot!
And our customer was able to mourn the loss of her horse with complete peace of mind...
We must continue on the road to animal protection. We're sure Santa would be very unhappy to know that his reindeer are "JUST" merchandise!
Have a wonderful festive season, and may it be sweet for you and your loved ones, as well as for our faithful pets!
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