Supplementary memorandum submitted by
BirdsFirst
We would like to thank the committee for inviting
us to give evidence on this Bill. We trust you found our comments
of some use.
There are two points we would like to bring
to your attention which we feel we have not covered properly to
date. These are the two interrelated matters of codes of practice
and the lack of a professional body of knowledge regarding care
of non-domestic "pets".
As BirdsFirst, we are confining our comments
here to aspects relating to captive birds (other than birds in
agriculture).
The Bill proposes various codes of practice
be drawn up with regard to how animals are housed, fed, transported,
displayed for sale and generally cared for. We welcome this proposal.
Animal welfare is often seriously compromised by commercial imperatives
and this can occur with a routine and casual indifference for
the animals' well-being when these are offered for sale by traders.
With this in mind, we feel that these codes should be devised
by people who have no commercial interest in the animals in question.
The procedure for devising such codes may well include contributions
from those who are involved in the commercial aspects of these
animals. However, such contributors should not be in a position
to make any decisions on these matters. Their contributions should
be that of supplying information only, not decision-making. Therefore,
any consultations with traders should be seen in their proper
context. Actual decisions on matters of codes of
conduct should be taken only by those who are both disinterested
and knowledgeable with regard to the aspects in question.
With the last point in mind, while there are
a few well-qualified and experienced individuals in the field
of care of non-domesticated animals, such knowledge is far from
commonplace. Nor is it generally available to local authorities
and most animal welfare and animal rescue organisations. Much
legislation relating to care of animals is already poorly enforced.
It is common practice today, to see most of the medium to large-sized
parrots in pet shops housed in cages which contravene both the
Pet Animals Act 1951 and the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981
with regard to cage size. Local authority enforcement officers
and non-specialist vets are never familiar with, for example the
wingspans of the range of parrots commonly traded as pets. Therefore,
when inspecting premises holding these birds, they do not know
what the minimum cage size should be for the birds they are inspecting.
It then becomes "default practice" to do nothing and
birds continue to be housed in cages where they cannot even stretch
their wings. Such birds are often subjected to very poor diets
through lack of knowledge of both their owners and those charged
with "inspecting" the conditions in which they are kept.
Poor diets and poor housing lead to chronic (and sometimes acute)
problems for the birds.
Currently, it is fairly common practice for
bird breeders to raise parrots as hand-reared birds. The process
of hand-rearing is done mainly for commercial reasons. It results
in baby birds which show submissive and affiliative behaviours
to humans while they are immature. This makes it easy to sell
"cuddly-tame" baby parrots to the public. When these
birds mature, at two to three years of age, their submissive behaviours
subside as their adult behavioural repertoire develops. At this
point many, perhaps most become difficult to keep as "pets"
since they become aggressive and their keepers have no control
over them. Typical behavioural problems at this stage include
serious biting, noise (complaints from neighbours) and self-mutilation.
At this stage the bird is usually transferred to another place,
either by sale or by being given to a rescue organisation.
Conversely, birds which are raised largely or
solely by their natural parents tend to behave very differently;
more like "normal" birds. They are not so reliant on
humans for their emotional needs and socialisation. They exhibit
normal behaviours in interactions with others of their own kind
and they are much less prone to the behavioural problems seen
in adolescent hand-reared birds.
With these points in mind, when considering
codes of practice for the sale of birds, we ask that all birds
on sale are of an age and ability where they are fully independent
of their parents (or hand-rearers) with regard to their feeding.
That is they are the equivalent of fully "weaned" mammals.
In recent months some local authorities have
used the excuse of the draft Animal Welfare Bill to justify taking
a relaxed, permissive view on itinerant bird sales, suggesting
that once the new Bill becomes law, they will then take action.
We would ask that any pre-judging of the outcome of the Animal
Welfare Bill is not a valid excuse for failing to enforce the
current legislation with regard to these sales. We would suggest
that Defra be asked to clarify this point in a memo to all local
authorities charged with enforcing the Pet Animals Act.
16 September 2004
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