DRAFT
AVIAN WELFARE STRATEGY
The welfare discussion document, Avian Strategy For Hobbyist Livestock and
Pet Birds, has been eight months in the making. It was put together by the
National Committee for Bird Strategy, a
group of eight specialist societies: the British Waterfowl Association, Hawk
Board, National Council for Aviculture, National Pigeon Association of Great
Britain, Parrot Society
UK
, Pet Care Trust, Poultry Club of Great Britain and World Pheasant Association.
In
its final form it will become 'England
's Health and Welfare Strategy for Birds' - the basis for official
best-practice guidelines to be followed by fanciers.
The
draft strategy has four main aims:
. To
bring all hobbyist birdkeepers together and develop a national strategy program
under one umbrella;
. To
maintain participation in birdkeeping;
. To
raise birdkeeping skills, training and standards; and
. To
improve the quality and breeding of birds under hobbyist control.
The
document also reviews issues such as medicine needs, bird welfare standards,
health surveillance arrangements and companion bird research.
“Avian
health and welfare is vital, not just because we owe birds a duty of care as
responsible owners and keepers, but because it is fundamental to the long-term
future of our ability to keep and breed many species of birds.
For the Strategy to succeed, everyone involved with all aspects of birdkeeping
needs to engage with the issues identified in this document and work together in
a pragmatic and constructive way to achieve the aims. Without this, the Strategy
will fail and a real opportunity will be lost.
This represents a landmark, but it's only the starting point All birdkeeping
organisations should try to work together to achieve this vision for the
future.”
The
committee is now seeking comment on the document from birdkeepers. Committee
member Colin O'Hara said: “We want birdkeepers to tell us if they think we've
missed something out or whether we've been too ambitious in what we think can be
achieved. We want them to comment in general about the aspirations in the
document”.
The committee will assess all the comments before making amendments. They aim to
submit the strategy next April to the supervising authority the England
Implementation Group (EIG).
