I'm shipping a package of feeder insects from the US to Canada. Because of temperature sensitivity, I have to either get the package here to Canada or have it returned to sender ASAP. It cannot stay in transit for too long.

I spoke with UPS before shipping, and they said it was alright to ship them with the account. I also have permits issued by the relevant Canadian and US permits to import these insects, and they are attached to the package, along with a letter from USFWS indicating that the specified insects are deregulated in the states, and can be exported without special declaration.

The package was supposed to arrive yesterday before noon, but it's been randomly alternating between "Warehouse scans" and "Export scans". Suddenly a notice appeared saying the package is prohibited by UPS for international shipping which...again, I specifically contacted UPS to check that it was okay beforehand, as well as all relevant government authorities.

I've been unable to get an answer from UPS customer service, and have received several contradictory guesses as to what I can do with the package. (E.g. it will arrive by end of the night (yesterday)) and (e.g. there seems to be an issue but I'm not sure what).

I sent 2 or 3 emails, spoke on live chat and have called for several hours over the past two days. I did not receive any email responses and have been yoinked around by the phone service (probably redirected 15 times now to different, equally clueless people). Live chat said they could only respond to these issues via the phone.

Obviously due to the nature of the shipment I am in close contact with the sender. I asked if they would be able to change the delivery or even return back to them, and we would try a different service (e.g. AirCanada live animal freight) but on his portal UPS says he is unable to change any delivery options.

The package is worth roughly 4500 USD and that's before the costs of applying to permits, licenses, clearance with the government, which in total had cost almost another 1000 USD. The sender had previously used UPS regularly, so we didn't think it would be an issue to go with UPS.

I am at a loss of what to do now. Any suggestions?