Six young Holstein Breeding Bulls made their way through The ARK at JFK to a country in S.W. Asia via Qatar Airways last week. The bulls traveled by road from their export isolation facility outside of the Chicago-ORD airport and were transported to The ARK to prepare for their international flight. Before their road trip, the USDA in Des Plaines, IL identified the animals and supplied the final documentation so that they would be authorized to begin their journey. After comfort stops along the way to refill food and water, the bulls arrived at The ARK and preparations were underway.
The day before the bulls arrived at The ARK, the custom-made IATA stall that the bulls would travel inside was delivered to The ARK and placed on a roller-bed to await “passengers”. Once the animals arrived, the personnel from The ARK and USDA were ready to have the bulls transferred from their chauffeur to their custom stalls, but before that, more feed and water were provided to the animals in addition to high-quality hay for an in-flight-meal. Once the USDA at JFK was satisfied and had everything they needed, The ARK confined the area, and the bulls boarded their stall. Then all IATA stickers, labels as well as the cargo net, and other securements were applied. The ARK weighed the stall for the airline and drove them right up to the plane! Despite this being the first shipment of Bovine through The ARK, advanced preparations with all parties involved (shipper, transporter, USDA, ARK, consignee), everything went as smoothly as possible. Due to the amount of time required to isolate and prepare an international shipment of bulls, it’s imperative that the day of departure operations go as planned; one mishap can delay the entire shipment for months!
The bulls traveled first class on a freighter flight and safely arrived to their final destination thanks to everyone’s teamwork. The importer was very thankful for making this unusual shipment possible under the current circumstances that the pandemic has posed on us all.
The ARK continues to safely accommodate horses, goats, donkeys, dogs, cats, birds, rabbits, etc., and now adds bovine to the list. The ARK can be contacted for questions and reservations by emailing [email protected] or by calling (212) 973-8275.
