A Beetle On A Necklace? You Can’t Cross The Border With That

Posted on February 10, 2010 with No Comments

A woman going from Mexico into Texas was stopped at the border. When it came time to declare what she had, she declared a piece of jewelry,  a beetle that was covered in gold and blue jewelry, with a safety-pin in it and a gold chain. It was being worn as a brooch on her sweater. One thing though, the beetle was living. The woman didn’t have the right paperwork filled out, so the beetle was confiscated, and taken for further inspection. In Mexico, wearing beetles as jewelry has long been popular. Now it has developed into wearing live beetles, a new fad that has seemingly caught on. Actually, it has been said that Jackie Kennedy got one of these with emeralds on it.

The problem that has arisen is that the women didn’t properly declare the insect. When coming into a country, one must declare pests in any form (living, pets, and so on) on a PPQ form 526. This form is for the importation or exportation of pests. Due to her not doing that, the insect was taken. Another problem that has arisen is animal rights activists have flocked to this story. They are outraged that a woman would do this to a live beetle. They went to the newspapers in Texas to complain about this treatment of the beetle. Regardless of what is said, this practice of wearing beetles as jewerly is rampant in Mexico, and it makes one wonder if that fad will catch on in the U.S.

Picture Credit

The Guardian wrote about this first.