Dear Birding-Aus participants,
As some of you may know, in 1992, the United States Congress enacted a
law known as the Wild Bird Conservation Act. It was designed to severely
curtail the import of wild birds into the U.S. It was authorized for
only three years. Many of the organizations that worked to promote
passage of the Act have initiated coordinated efforts to urge
re-authorization of the Act. However, some of those organizations that
once supported the Act have now become dissatisfied and have mobilized to
urge Congress either to rescind the Act altogether or to severely weaken
its provisions. In particular, they have targeted the sections of the
law that provide for voluntary or mandatory marking of birds for
identification purposes, and have advocated removal of all captive-bred
birds from control of the Act.
It is the position of the Association for Parrot Conservation and many of
the members of the orginal Cooperative Working Group on Bird Trade that
these changes will render the Act virtually unenforceable. It will once
again become impossible to determine the origin of a bird imported into
the United States, which will undoubtedly cause an increase in the
capture and importation of wild birds or the offspring of illegally
caught wild birds.
APC urges you to take the time to write to:
Representative Don Young
Chair of the House of Representatives Resources Committee
1324 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
USA
to encourage the Congress to re-authorize the Act without deletions.
It is especially important that Rep. Young's office hear from scientists
and conservation professionals from countries where wild parrot
populations exist, and from those who work in the field and can attest to
the effect of the stringent control of the United States import of exotic
birds on the conservation status of wild bird populations.
Please write to Rep. Young's office as soon as possible in order to help
secure re-authorization of the Wild Bird Conservation Act.
Sincerely,
Dr. Enrique Bucher
President, Association for Parrot Conservation
For further information about the Association for Parrot Conservation or
the Wild Bird Conservation Act, please write to:
Ellen Paul
University of Maryland
Graduate Program in Sustainable Development and Conservation Biology
This message was posted by Ellen Paul on behalf of Dr. Bucher and the
Association for Parrot Conservation
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