Abstract
The United States Animal Health Association at its annual meeting held in Buffalo,N. Y., Oct. 27 to Nov. 2, 1978, established a sub-committee on diseases of cage and aviary birds.
At this annual meeting, The American Federation of A vi culture in the person of its president, Dr. Richard E. Baer, was invited to address the Committee on Transmissible Diseases of Poultry on the subject of The Problems of A viculture.
After Dr. Baer's presentation, a motion was made and passed to establish the subcommittee. Dr. Baer has been asked to chair this group.
The U.S.A.H.A. was first established as the Interstate Association of Livestock Sanitary Boards and it was later changed to the United States Livestock Sanitary Association. Its original purpose was the study of sanitary science and the dissemination of information and methods pertaining to the control and eradication of infectious diseases among livestock.
In 1968 the name was changed to U.S.A. H. A. with the expanded purpose of developing preventative animal disease programs and concepts, to cope with the ordeal of preventing and controlling the entrance of foreign animal diseases into this country, and to protect the animal health of the nation.
Its scope was broadened to include committees on such matters as: Foreign Animal Diseases, Diseases of Poultry, Wild & Marine Life Diseases, a committee on Zoological Gardens; and, now, one on Diseases of Cage & Aviary Birds has been established.
Membership in U.S.A.H.A. is open to regulatory personnel (State and Federal), national non-profit organizations interested in animal health science, individuals interested and/or working in animal health science, and students in veterinary medicine or related fields.
The American Federation of A vi culture has subscribed to an Allied Organization membership which includes a seat on the executive committee ofU.S.A.H.A.
The following is the text of Dr. Baer's presentation:
"EXOTIC AND PET BIRD INDUSTRY PROBLEMS"
"The opportunity to present some of the problems of aviculture before this Committee on Transmissible Diseases of Poultry of the United States Animal Health Association is appreciated.
'' I have changed the subject of my paper somewhat from the topic assigned me, i.e., Exotic and Pet Bird Industry Problems, to that of the Problems of Aviculture. My reason for this is that the subject assigned me might be construed to be limited to the narrow meaning of the phrase, "bird industry" in which case the problems could be more authoritatively discussed by a representative of that industry. I consider aviculture to be broader in scope and as an aviculturist I feel competent to speak about aviculture's problems.
"First, let me define the terms "aviculture" and "A viculturist" as I use them. I construe the word "aviculture" to mean the keeping and/or breeding of cage, aviary, exotic or game birds; and "aviculturist" as one who keeps and/or breeds these classes of birds. My definitions exclude domestic fowl and the commercial poultry man, which might be included in the broader meaning of the terms.
"The first problem of aviculture is to present and gain understanding of its complexity and range.
"Probably one of the biggest misconceptions of the word "aviculturist" conjurs up is the picture of a little lady with a canary in the parlor, or the image of budgies in a cage sold in a "dime-store."
"Actually, aviculture comprises and extends from the keeper of a pet bird (''the little lady with a canary") to the collectorbreeder (the authentic aviculturist) who collects and in addition, through captive breeding, endeavors to domesticate the various species, perfect standards, establish new mutations and propagate the rare and endangered species. It includes the dealer, both wholesale and retail (the pet shop owner), and takes in the commercial importer (the quarantine station operator). It also covers the zoos and other public collections of birds.
"The categories of birds in aviculture ranges from the usual cage birds through the exotic to the game birds; from pigeons to fancy poultry; everything from the common to the rare, the endangered and the irreplaceable.
'' As an industry, aviculture is valued at over five hundred million dollars; as an avocation, it involves hundreds of thousands of dedicated people.
"The industry itself not only consists of commercial importers, and the dealers and the manufacturers of pet and aviary products, but reaches out to the veterinary profession which provides the medical care and to agriculture which produces the grain to feed. (One feed dealer in Central Ohio, himself, handles over 4,000,000 pounds of sunflower seed for bird feed annually.) That is two thousand tons of sunflower seed alone exclusive of the canary seed, the millet and other seeds raised by the American farmer for bird feed.
"Aside from proper comprehension, aviculture has many other problems, one of which is discriminatory legislation. The aviculturist recognizes the need for laws to protect wildlife and domestic stock. All too often, however, these laws are poorly written and arbitrary in their nature against aviculture and reflect a lack of understanding in their making.
"V.V.N.D. control policies in the past as applied to cage and aviary birds are a good example of discriminatory practices. Fortunately, these policies have been changed and hopefully will be carried out more prudently in the event of future outbreaks. In control of V.V.N.D., the aviculturist and the poultryman should be working in cooperation, not in opposition. Here is a role for U.S.A.H.A.
"Since the establishment of the Federally supervised quarantine facilities, not a single case of V.V.N.D. has been traced back to a bird released from these stations. The V.V.N.D. danger now lies with the smuggled bird.
"The aviculturist wants good healthy birds and the peril of the smuggled bird is even more important to him than it is to the poultryman.
"The new government quarantine program for the recovery of costs and services (users' fees) with the consequential rise in bird prices and monopolystic control on imports, with still more price rises, will greatly increase smuggling and make the probability of another costly V.V.N.D. outbreak much more imminent.
"U.S.A.H.A. and the poultry industry should advocate that this inspection work be government funded. The president of one of the largest poultry associations in the West appeared on television recently to speak in favor of precisely this. Aviculture can unite with the poultry industry here.
"The amount of money needed for this inspection is relatively paltry when compared to what the cost of just one V.V.N.D. outbreak would be.
"While the quarantine stations have proven effective in the control of V.V.N.D. in legally imported birds, the record for the handling of psittacosis is not so good