Transporting Exotic Animals for the Tashkent Zoo

Three zebras, three giraffes, a white lioness, and a white Bengal tigress, a trip from a wildlife farm in Johannesburg to Tashkent Zoo

Delivering Life: CargoPoint’s Specialized Live Animal Transport to Tashkent Zoo

Case Summary

Customer: Tashkent Zoo (www.tashkentzoo.uz)

Services Involved: Air cargo charter, air freight, road transport

Customer Benefits:

1. Successful transportation of live animals in humane and compliant conditions across three international airports

2. Custom air charter solution enabling safe delivery of oversized and sensitive cargo not accepted on scheduled flights

Background

Tashkent Zoo, one of the oldest zoos in Central Asia established in 1924, is home to approximately 400 animal species across 21.5 hectares. As part of its ongoing expansion and modernization efforts, the zoo acquired several exotic animals, including zebras, giraffes, a white lion, and a white Bengal tiger from a wildlife farm in Johannesburg, South Africa. These new inhabitants required careful and specialized transportation over a long distance to their new home in Tashkent.

Challenge: How to Safely Transport Large Exotic Animals Over 10,000 km by Air

Faced with the urgent need to move zebras, giraffes, a white lion, and a white Bengal tiger from Johannesburg to Tashkent via Istanbul, CargoPoint had to overcome multiple critical challenges:

1. Find a cargo aircraft capable of safely accommodating oversized live animals, as standard scheduled flights could not fit the giraffes.

2. Coordinate across multiple countries, airports, and quarantine authorities to meet strict international animal welfare regulations (IATA LAR).

3. Manage weather-related delays during the rainy season in South Africa, requiring rescheduling to ensure animal safety and compliance.

Solution: Customized Air Transport Solution for Live Animal Relocation

Our air charter specialists worked with Turkish Cargo Istanbul HQ, Johannesburg, and Tashkent stations to arrange a special charter aircraft from Johannesburg to Tashkent. Taking an aircraft out of Turkish Airlines' busy flight schedule in the midst of the high season was no easy task, so the matter was escalated to the top management of Turkish Cargo through appropriate channels.

Once the flight schedule was confirmed, the rainy season started in South Africa, resulting in a one-week delay due to concerns about the welfare of the animals. Once again, the CargoPoint specialists were scrambled, working with Turkish Cargo to find an appropriate aircraft and re-arrange the flight schedule to fit the weather window and quarantine requirements. Two live animal attendants from Tashkent Zoo accompanied the animals all the way from Johannesburg to Tashkent. Our teams had arranged a crane at Tashkent Airport and the Zoo for loading and unloading the animals.

“Moving live animals over long distances comes with its own challenges, be it finding suitable aircraft, bureaucracy of visa issuance, or stringent quarantine requirements. And of course, the rainy autumn weather didn’t help and we ended up having to cancel our first charter flight out of concern for our animals’ welfare. Despite these challenges, we felt the complete support of the CargoPoint team who worked tirelessly to ensure we had everything in place to successfully accomplish this high-risk mission to deliver the animals to their new home at Tashkent Zoo.”

Director, Tashkent Zoo

Conclusion

The CargoPoint team has successfully delivered the wild animals from South Africa to Tashkent Zoo in accordance with IATA LAR showcasing our team’s professionalism and deep industry knowledge. Our experts provide tailored solutions to each customer and continuously expand our horizons by conquering new logistical heights to bring the world closer together. Whether you need to forward general cargo or require specialized transport to move your assets around the globe, reach out to our team at CargoPoint - we are here to support your supply chain.