Couldn't agree more Mike. Welfare issues could be addressed and disease
control by vaccination for PBFD would be so much easier. Many of the birds
going through the trappers are already incubating PBFD disease. Vaccination
would not be effective in these individuals and the birds could still come
down later with this devastating disease. There are a couple of vaccines
now available for PBFD (one of which Shane developed) but none have been
released commercially in Australia yet, partly because of this problem with
wild trapped birds.
Pat Macwhirter
Victoria
>The harvesting of birds and its sustainability should not be an
>issue, it simply should not occur. As a general rule, birds born
>in the wild should stay in the wild, and birds born in captivity
>should stay in captivity. There may be a case made in special
>circumstances for taking a limited number of birds from the wild,
>as in the CALM projects in W.A., but wholesale trapping should be
>banned. Aviculture certainly does not need wild caught birds,
>with the inhibiting effect it has on successful captive breeding
>of these species.
>
>cheers,
>
>Mike Owen
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