Aussie Finch Forum

Ive been following the fate of the OBs for a couple of years now . Its very up and down and very much reliant on good weather for a successful migration anyhoo a comment was made on here a long time ago that I haven't forgotten and which has made me think long and hard about the Orange bellies plight .

It was said that because Tasmania is naturally moving away from the mainland making the migration gradually longer that perhaps the extinction of OBs was a naturally occurring incident that we really cant do much to change .

I would hate to think that all hope was lost but maybe the conservation of these birds needs a plan B . A plan where geographics are taken out of the picture ...if at all possible

Just sharing and yes it has nothing to do with importing birds but I got nothing on that topic .

Uraeginthus wrote: The CITES/endangered issue should not come into it if the birds are captive bred. Proving same can be difficult. I was under the impression that CITES concerned itself with wild populations, not captive stuff (?)

I think in most cases if the specie is captive bred obtaining a movement (import or export) permit of CITES is no problem at all, but if you try to catch and export the same specie from the wild you are in deep mud. Therefore importing/exporting for example captive bred Red Siskins or Yarrell's Siskins from let's say Europe, obtaining a movement permit is the least of your worries. However, allowing legal imports of some number of birds every "now and then" from the captive stock, let's say every 2 years or so, is the way to go!

arthur wrote:

Netsurfer wrote:Therefore it is better that several birds get in to the country either legally (or illegally) then adopting an attitude "trap and export anything that moves". Legalizing import into the country is not going to happen and it should not happen, considering how many species are on the threatened or endangered list quote]

I've missed your point . . are you for or against legal importation, properly carried out, and properly supervised by competent people

Definitely against! Once it's legal it always get's out of hand. And that stuff "competent people" doesn't sound to well to me, unless it's the Avicultural Society and only as I suggested above "every now and then" so no to neglect aicultulturists (50 years is definitely to long). Some things is better not to legislate and this is one of them. There's less then 50% of aviculturists that keep birds for the love of the wild species or care or even think about the preservation of wild species, nowadays breeding hybrids and mutations is the "in thing".

I remember being at the Adelaide Convention in 1980 (?). George Smith the UK vet spoke and he said that if they (the authorities) allowed importation he hoped it was expensive and that the birds would be expensive because then we would appreciate and look after them.
I agree with that sentiment. It basically worked with the parrots only in recent years we have some cowboys not appreciating what we have and crossing some birds for the mutations (transmutation is the euphemism they use for it).
I would hope that we can learn from that experience and that imported birds would go to responsible people who would look after the new genes. I don't believe we should be looking at new species. Just bolster the birds we have.