Exporting Finches

17 Jun 2009, 11:04

I'm here in Sydney at the moment and have gotten hold of the latest Talking Birds and ABK magazines where they both have a rant on exporting finches being the end of Aviculture in Australia. As a person with a foot in both camps (I instigated a shipment to the Philippines and I'm damned well not there to get the birds so I'll probably miss out) I'm wondering what others think? Certainly we in Austrlia don't want to lose any rare finches unnecessarily (eg contribiting to say a green Strawb recovery program could be considered valid) but common foreigns like canaries, gold finches, red-faced parrot finches, red-eared cordon bleus, St Helena's or Orange breasted waxbills surely can't be endangering their viability here. I'm under no illusion that of the birds imported to the Philippines most go to stamp collecters so it may be a bottomles pit but I can't see what is wrong with exporting common foreigns. I don't believe there are many breeders that would export their last pair of prurple grenediers or other rare species. Perhaps our industry does need a representation through a peak body and a lobbyist as was proposed in one of the bird mags recently. What do you guys think?

17 Jun 2009, 16:53

Not sure too many finch breeders would feel comfortable with exporting when it's only one way traffic. Look at what happened with Cubans which is a common species. Their prices are still inflated here.

If exports were tightly controlled with only small numbers of the more common species, then I guess it could work.

17 Jun 2009, 17:19

As well as cubans I beleive red face parrot finches are exported.The price of both are out of reach for someone getting their first pair of birds now.Only the people with connections are making real money out of it,and dont care for the wellbeing of the bird.
Why dont they allow foreigns to be imported here?Or do they allow them to be?

17 Jun 2009, 20:37

OK this might help explain the ridiculous price jumps for (once) relatively common and easy to breed species, since I was last in the hobby in the early 90s.

19 Jun 2009, 11:19

From what I understand the export business is not large and is confined to the common species mentioned. The price asked by the guy in Melbourne is not high $45 for red-faced parrot-finches so he must be paying 1/2-3/4 of that to his suppliers so I doubt such a small volume in the scheme of things could force prices up. It's not the fault of the exporter that the flow is only one way. Our hobby/industry is too disorganised to have much of a political voice. The only potential finch keeper in Federal politics is Greg Combrey and he's ino in charge of biosecurity.

Interesting to see the general perception of the export industry here.

19 Jun 2009, 19:20

Thats cheap,i heard exporters were paying $100 plus a pair.And they are rarely seen under $80 a pair at sales.If he can export them to you for that,you wont buy them any cheaper here yourself.

19 Jun 2009, 20:16

i am against it . if we can not bring them in we shouldnt send them out .plus how many will die in quarentine..pete

19 Jun 2009, 20:19

yes i agree with poitta im against the exporting of all finches.

19 Jun 2009, 22:02

if you are against exporting how do you feel about importing?

19 Jun 2009, 22:35

i agree with importing. for new blood and to help us to recover some of the rarer species.