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(London)—The Species
Survival Network (SSN) today applauded the European Union’s
historic decision to prohibit the importation of wild-caught birds
permanently. This action, effective 1 July 2007, was taken by the
European Commission’s Standing Committee on the Food Chain
and Animal Health (SCOFCAH).
“The SCOFCAH wisely
recognized that
the international bird trade provides an ideal environment for the
spread of infectious diseases due to stress and crowding prior to and
during transport,” stated Will Travers, SSN President.
“This ban will benefit both human health and the conservation
of
exotic birds around the globe.”
Prior to 2005, the EU was the
world’s
largest importer of wild birds—accounting for nearly one
million
CITES-listed birds each year, or 87% of the global trade. In November
2005, the EU adopted a temporary moratorium on imports in response to
the detection of the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of avian influenza
at a quarantine facility operated by a British bird trader.
“In addition to the threat
of disease
transmission,” Travers continued, “the
international trade
in wild birds puts countless species at increased risk of serious
population declines. We must not stand idly by while magnificent avian
species suffer gravely.”
Approximately 57% of the
world’s threatened parrots and one in ten Globally Threatened
Birds are negatively impacted by trade. The EU’s import
prohibition will reinforce trade regulations already in place under the
Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna
and Flora (CITES), which unfortunately applies to only a fraction of
the bird species in trade. For example, CITES does not currently apply
to any neotropical migrants even though these birds
are believed to be traded in large numbers.
“This ban brings EU policy
for wild bird imports into line with the protective approach of the EU
Birds Directive, which since 1979 has prohibited the capture of native
European bird species for commercial trade,” stated Daniela
Freyer, Coordinator of the SSN European Regional Bureau. “We
hope other nations will follow the EU, Australia, Canada, Israel,
Sweden and the USA in partially or fully restricting import of
wild-caught birds for the pet trade.”
Although the sheer number of birds
traded
means the new ban will have tremendous benefits for the conservation of
wild bird populations, its economic impact will be modest because the
global value of the trade is small. “There is not one example
of
trade in wild birds that has provided sufficient resources to fund
adequate, science-based monitoring and management of an exploited wild
bird population,” stated Ann Michels, Co-Chair of the SSN
Bird Working Group.
Click
here to view SSN's detailed rebuttal of
claims by the CITES Secretariat that the wild bird trade is carefully
regulated and that the EU prohibition on wild bird imports will impair
bird conservation efforts or spur increased smuggling.
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