41. Pet Movers
The Economics of Everyday Things
Freakonomics Network
4.8 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 21 May 2026
⏱️ 16 minutes
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| 0:00.0 | A few years ago, Amelia Barclow wanted to relocate from the United Kingdom to the San Francisco Bay Area. |
| 0:09.3 | Like any international move, it was a bit of a slog. |
| 0:13.6 | She had to ship out all of her belongings, go through a customs process, and find a new place to stay. |
| 0:19.9 | But Barclow's move also involved a more unique challenge. |
| 0:28.1 | She's in a mood. |
| 0:33.4 | Those are Barclow's pet ducks, Bean and Wobbles. |
| 0:38.5 | Bean, she looks like a pinto bean. |
| 0:40.3 | She has little brown and cream spots all over. |
| 0:44.5 | Wobbles is because he's very clumsy and very round, |
| 0:47.7 | and he tends to fall onto his back a lot like a turtle. |
| 0:53.9 | As it turned out, getting Bean and Wobbles to their new home in a new country was no simple task. |
| 1:01.2 | We would speak to someone from the USDA who worked in livestock. They'd be like, no, they're pets. |
| 1:05.8 | And we go to the people who work for importing pets. They're like, no, they're livestock. |
| 1:09.2 | There was no protocol for what we were trying to do. |
| 1:12.1 | It was to the point where I'd call someone and they'd go, |
| 1:14.7 | oh, you're the duck lady. |
| 1:16.3 | Yeah, sorry, we can't help you. |
| 1:18.4 | So, Barclow had to turn to a specialist, a company that has found a lucrative niche |
| 1:24.1 | in transporting pets all over the world. |
| 1:29.0 | We had goats, pigeons, sheep, the airports of thousands of weird and wonderful animals |
| 1:35.6 | go through. Tropical fish, alligators, lions, tigers, flocks of birds, the occasional duck. |
| 1:44.0 | This one family had an emotional support hedgehog, which is absolutely fine. |
... |
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