World Parrot Trust The European Union Wild Bird Declaration

• Main Authors: Greenpeace Ifaw, An Ngo, Call Halt, Wild Bird, Imports European Union
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Avian flu
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.695.4546; http://www.birdsareforwatching.org/WBDecFinal.pdf

We write you today as a group of 226 non-governmental organisations- representing millions of members throughout Europe and around the world- to urge a permanent end to the importation of wild birds into the European Union. Each year, hundreds of thousands of wild-caught birds are imported into the EU. These imports pose serious and substantial risks to the species traded, to the health and livelihoods of European citizens, and to our identities as responsible and humane global citizens. The EU recognised these risks when it imposed a precautionary moratorium on imports of wild caught birds earlier this year and extended the moratorium again this summer. In our collective view, the most responsible, humane, and science-based course of action is for the EU to make that ban permanent, and join the growing number of nations around the world that have withdrawn from the risky and unacceptable commercial trade in wild birds1. For this reason, we respectfully call upon the European Union to immediately and permanently halt the commercial importation of wild birds. Wild Bird Imports Threaten Human Lives and Livelihoods International movements of wildlife amplify disease risks to humans, livestock, and local wildlife. Despite our best efforts to quarantine, control, and screen for infectious diseases, history has repeatedly demonstrated that importing wild birds poses recurrent and serious disease risks for both human and animal populations, that outbreaks of such diseases are difficult to prevent and costly to control, and that their impacts are felt throughout the economy. Two recent avian disease outbreaks exemplify our concerns and give credence to the scale and immediacy of the problem at hand. Avian Influenza The current epidemic of avian influenza in Asia is only one of many ongoing outbreaks of this deadly and virulent disease. Outbreaks of various avian flu strains have also crippled or are now devastating the poultry industry in Europe (Netherlands, Germany, and Belgium in 2002) and North America (British