smuggled birds

[VR1Ton]

Yes, they are quarantined, but whats the difference between quarantine for a finch or any other bird for that matter & a pigeon?

[jusdeb]

Good question .... if your asking me I say no bloody difference .

I guess referring to diseases coming in with smuggled birds was stupid ....

[desertbirds]

I cant recall the exact details but a few years ago there was a guy caught here with about 80 reptiles.They were stuffed anywhere he could put them,in boxes and socks ect.When he was apprehended half the reptiles were dead.It went to court in Darwin and the guy received a $700 hundred fine.Just wrong!

[arthur]

Might be a few on the forum who find this amusing . .

The Arrogance of Authority

A NPWS officer stopped at a property in Victoria , and talked with an old farmer, and told him
, "I need to inspect your property for illegal birds."
The farmer said, "Okay , but don't go into that part of the farm over there.....", and he pointed out the location.

The NPWS officer verbally exploded saying, " Mister, I have the authority of the Federal Government with me !"

Reaching into his rear pants pocket, he removed his badge and proudly displayed it to the farmer.

"See this badge?! This badge means I am allowed to go wherever I wish.... On any land !!
No questions asked or answers given!! Have I made myself clear......do you understand ?!!"

The farmer nodded politely, apologized, and went about his chores.

A short time later, the farmer heard loud screams, looked up, and saw the NPWS officer running for his life, being chased by the farmer's big Santa Gertrudis bull......

With every step the bull was gaining ground on the officer, and it seemed likely that he'd sure enough get gored before he reached safety. The officer was clearly terrified.
The farmer threw down his tools, ran to the fence and yelled at the top of his lungs.....

"Your badge, your badge . . show him your BADGE........ ! !"

[BENSONSAN]

lol nice i like it

[Buzzard-1]

[finchbreeder]

Any 2yr old would have asked Why. But that's the joke of course.
Perhaps it's time all countries looked at exporting/importing common birds with full quarantine licencing?
Or putting some effort into stopping illegal smuggling?
If you can't get it right one way try the other?
LML

[jusdeb]

Love it .

[Myzomela]

Yes, they are quarantined, but whats the difference between quarantine for a finch or any other bird for that matter & a pigeon?

The difference lies in the fact that different bird species are predisposed to different diseases. Therefore, the quarantine requirements are different.
For example in parrots, Proventricular Dilatation Disease/Macaw wasting disease, can take years to show up and until recently was caused by an unknown virus- so how do you test for it? Even now that they have found an association between a virus- bornavirus- and the illness, it is still uncertain what role the virus plays. Pigeons do not get this disease.

From AQIS point of view, import applications for each type of animal have to undergo different assessments. For example, they need to analyse all diseases that the species in question are prone to, the risk of the birds bringing in the disease, and what potential effects such diseases will have on commercial poultry industries and native wildlife.

Then they need to analyse the pest potential of each species- ie they review data from around the world to see how many feral populations there are and how likely they are to adapt to Australian conditions if they were to escape.

Then they also assess the potential for smuggling for this species ie will importation decrease the potential for smuggling into Australia; they will also consider the species conservation status.

All this takes time- and gives them a great excuse for delaying approval of importation!!!

Funny how racing pigeons, race horses etc keep coming in. It is not coinscidental that these industries have a lot more $$$$ power behind them either.

[Netsurfer]

Be very careful when being involved with them.At your home or away.
I made the mistake of trying to help one who pleaded ignorance and was.
My idea was if I helped him then he would be able to make rational educated decisions.
Was I wrong,I was charged with what I class as minor breaches and ended up in court.
Why not just an on the spot fine, well that is conjecture but at that stage the director was only acting so
convictions look far better in his cv he is now the permanent head. They didn't care one bit about the birds but they got their result.
Now I have no Licence, do not want one and don't require one.But I now know my rights and their conditions of entry and I
wait patiently for the representative to return.
By the way this happened 4 years ago and still haven't been graced by their attendance.
It is so sad that people are given power and the majority think so little of their position to not even bother to learn their so called trade.
One could think that they are stealing oxygen.

As for the egg smugglers,if the had an educated program of very limited access to birds from over seas then the need to smuggle would
not be as attractive.
The days of anything being smuggled on a persons body are virtually finished,airports around the world are installing body Xrays.
Yes you stand in a semi cubical feet on the foot marks hands in the air.The xray is taken you wait 30sec for it to be developed. Then they let you through,
another Asian airport physically pats you down once in transit.
As for the disease risk if it was there why is it legal to import Pigeons from overseas.Of all birds,its a specie that is let out to free fly.
Its a pity so we must breed what we have.

I would never encourage import or export or wildlife trade, may that be finches or Ostriches, however, they completely stopped all imports of finches for about 60 years now, a shipment or two of finches once in a while would keep the "flame" or interest in finches going, if anything for educational purposes. Americans, British and the Europeans are doing it, would it mater if we did it once or twice every five years. Technology is here so there's absolutely no threat of diseases being introduced into Australia. There are two types of bird enthusiasts, one is environmentalists (or purists) those who like seeing and keeping birds as they're found in the wild, and there are those who like producing and keeping hybrids and mutations, they have absolutely no regards for the species or the environment. I guess authorities don't want this to get out of hand, if not, pretty soon we'll see mutations and hybrids being introduced into the wild.