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Washington, DC-In the face of a global
media furor over the increasing connection between the bird trade and
disease transmission, the Species Survival Network, a global coalition
of wildlife conservation and animal protection organizations (www.ssn.org), decided today
to set the record straight. “There is no evidence
that the European Union moratorium on bird imports will either harm
wild bird populations or spur increased smuggling of potentially
diseased birds” noted Will Travers, SSN President. “Prohibitions
on legal trade reduce opportunities for laundering of illegally
acquired birds and reduce smuggling.”
Travers’ comments refuted
unsubstantiated claims made by the Secretariat of the United Nations
Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna
and Flora (“CITES”) that a moratorium on the import
of captive birds adopted by the European Union to prevent transmission
of H5N1 avian influenza will impair bird conservation efforts or spur
increased smuggling. The SSN is concerned that the CITES Secretariat
has made several factual errors and unproven assumptions in statements
released to the press.
The bird trade provides an ideal
environment for the spread of diseases, including avian influenza. Live
captive birds of various species have transmitted the H5N1 virus among
countries and continents. Stress, and the crowding prior to and during
transport, increase the expression and transmission of infection. SSN
believes the European Commission’s decision to adopt a
moratorium on bird imports during the current outbreak is a reasonable
precautionary measure.
“Species from
different countries are commonly mixed during trade or quarantine,”
noted Ann Michels, Co-Chair of the SSN Bird Working Group. “This
creates a very real risk that birds originating in disease-free
countries or regions may become infected before entering the
market.” Taiwanese authorities have stated that
there is a good possibility that the true source of a recent shipment
of infected mesias (an Asian songbird) from Taiwan was China. The
infected birds may have been laundered into the legal bird trade in
Taiwan, a supposedly H5N1-free area, and exported to the United
Kingdom. A similar transaction occurred in 1998, when diseased birds
were laundered through Malaysia into a legal shipment bound for Japan.
SSN supports the prohibitions on the
import of live captive birds adopted by the European Union, Malaysia,
Ukraine, Bangladesh, the Philippines and others in order to reduce
possible transmission of avian flu. Michels continued, "SSN
joins international organizations such as the Convention on
Conservation of Migratory Species and BirdLife International in
recognizing the threat posed by the continued international trade in
live wild birds and calls for a suspension of trade."
Editor's notes:
- Detailed analysis of the Myths and
Facts behind the connection between bird trade and disease transmission
are available from SSN.
- Further information can be found at
www.ssn.org
- The Species Survival Network (SSN),
founded in 1992, is an international coalition of over eighty
non-governmental organizations (NGOs) committed to the promotion,
enhancement, and strict enforcement of the Convention on International
Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Through
scientific and legal research, education and advocacy, the SSN is
working to prevent over-exploitation of animals and plants due to
international trade.
- The Convention on the International
Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) treaty was first signed in 1973 in
order to protect certain species of wildlife and plants against
over-exploitation through trade. The international wildlife trade is
worth billions of dollars annually and has been responsible for the
decline of wild populations of a number of species of animals and
plants.
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