Abstract
BUY BANDED BIRDS - These are USDA-Approved leg bands, the kind placed on all imported birds coming through USDA or USDA-approved quarantine stations. We'd like to see these bands stay on the birds while they are in commerce.
It would also be desirable for all domestically bred members of the parrot family to be banded before they are sold - thereby assuring buyers that they are getting Newcastle-free birds.
Since quarantined birds already have bands, all that would have to be done is to leave the band in place when the birds are shipped from the quarantine station. The banding of domestic birds should not be a problem; after all an AFA survey showed that there were less than 500 bird breeders in the United States in 1981.
We can only assume that all the handfed and hand-tamed birds being offered for sale, but not banded, are smuggled birds. We know that all the law enforcement in the world is not going to stop bird smuggling. We also know that almost all
of us would buy a double yellow-head ifit were offered for $20 - which is what a couple in Brownsville, Texas, paid for one a couple of months ago.
However, what all we importers, retailers, breeders, hobbiests, and State and Federal animal health officials want is the end of Newcastle emergencies and the resulting need to destroy infected and exposed birds.
You can help by:
- Buying only banded birds.
- Keeping all new birds isolated from
other birds for at least 30 days.
- Testing all new birds for Newcastle,
Pacheco and psittacosis.
- Calling Customs, Fish & Wildlife or USDA if you're offered what you think might be a smuggled bird. The federal agencies are following every lead. This has led to arrests and convictions of bird smugglers. Try to get as much information as possible about the seller, especially vehicle type and license number. You do not need to give your name if you call the APHIS hotline at (301) 436-8065. •