EU bans the import of wild birds
FOUR PAWS welcomes a milestone in the fight against the international animal trade
The year 2007 starts pretty good for animal welfare: on 11th January 2007 the European Commission has decided to permanently ban imports for wild birds into the EU. The crucial factor for this decision was an expertise from the European Food Safety Authority, where the big risk to the health of humans, deriving from the import of wild birds, was emphasized. Furthermore it confirmed the catastrophic animal welfare problems resulting from the international animal trade.
The EU was the worlds largest importer of exotic birds until an import ban was announced on 27th October 2005, resulting from the bird flu danger at that time. About 87% of the transports recorded, or almost two million birds were imported each year into the EU. On top of that as many died during the transport or the hunt – a tragedy of millions of animals, which brought many bird species to the edge of extinction. FOUR PAWS therefore has been fighting together with a broad alliance of animal-, species- and environmental organizations to ban the trade of exotic birds. In the course of the spreading of bird flu, the worldwide trade in wild birds was also identified as a potential risk factor. After several cases of smuggled wild birds, which were found at airports and which were infected, confirmed the assumptions and led to the imposition of import bans.
To ensure the success of the now effective general import ban will depend on an efficient control of the existing exceptions like for example the import of bred birds. The procedures intended has to be supervised strictly, or otherwise there will still be danger for humans and animals.
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