Cage & Aviary birds

There is still an alarmingly large amount of trapping of wild birds done in this country especially "popular" are finches and other song birds. It is, of course, a practice that is quite illegal and carries fairly harsh penalties but detection is almost impossible.

If people wishing to "own" a small bird were to make sure that they only purchase from decent breeders we could make it less profitable for the trappers.

Always check out the people selling birds, make enquiries about where the bird has come from if you buy from pet shops, don't buy from bird auctions and basically think long and hard about wanting to "own" a bird native to this country.

You all know that I work with aviary birds and have quite close relationships with many of them but these are mainly birds that have been bought by people who then discovered they could not or did not wish to carry on caring for them. Impulse buying is so unfair on the birds.

It is illegal to release captive born birds without a licence to do so, even when the bird is native to this country so think carefully and ask all your friends etc. to think carefully about "ownership" of them.

There would be no trapping if there wasn't a market for the birds. The trappers don't love birds. They love money.

Jenni

Import of wild-caught birds into the EU for the pet trade has been banned since 2007. That doesn't mean it's not still happening unlawfully, not sure how that can be quantified though... and of course in many other countries there is no such ban. The story of Spix's Macaw shows how bird collectors' greed can bring about the extinction of a species in the wild.

Jenni sums the horrible crime up very well,like many crimes if there was not a customer there would be no crime.Cannot really understand why people would want to keep a previously wild and free flying bird in a cage,funny sort of "ownership"

Hi it is interesting to see your replies, but would just like to say it is as one of the posters says and I quote( think long and hard about wanting to "own" a bird native to this country. )not just this country but the thousands of birds world wide that are trapped either for posh food, or the aviary trade, but to me its all birds, the next time you go to a BOp show have a look at the deck feathers (tail) see how much damage has been done to the feathers, if there is a lot then the people involved are not keeping them in proper conditions or not handling them properly, when the widlife and countryside bill came in things did start to get better, with proper monitoring, proper registration, a proper ringing scheame, licences for rescue centres, but just lately probable because of costs man power ore the lack of trained people it seems to be going backwards, unlike jenni who obviously knows what it is about, there is an awful lot who dont, and as jenni just said the bird auctions are appaling,and these are so called bred in captivity, thanks for all your replies.

Unknown said:

i was surprised to find that when i had a Goldfinch in the garden with a red ring on its leg that they are bred for showing like you would pigeons.

What more can I say, doggie,

about this subject.

Claire

Another way birds are taken is through taking eggs from the wild and hatched under captive birds or incubated and ringed.

the only way then is DNA.

Acouple of years ago I came across one of the old cage traps along side a gypsy camp and accidently broke it

  Ray

Good for you!

Jenni

'A forest bird never wants a cage' Henrik Ibsen

'God loved the birds and invented trees. Man loved the birds and invented cages' Jacques Deval

Sums it all up for me....