Bird flu is fast turning our feathered friends into feathered fiends. If we are to believe the reports, anything with a beak is becoming something to be feared. But the last few weeks have shown how ignorant we are about wild birds and how we could be responding better.
While the threat posed by wild birds was being hyped up, until the discovery of the sick parrot in UK quarantine there was little attention paid to the birds that Britain deliberately imports from all over the world to be pets.
A one-month ban announced on the import of live birds by the EU is a start, but the restriction should be permanent.
More than a million exotic live birds are imported into the EU every year. Conservation and welfare groups have been warning of the threat of a serious disease being imported for years. They have regularly called for an EU ban on imports on this and other grounds.
The easiest and most effective way to eliminate this risk is to ban the importation of wild birds permanently.
One of the defenses against a permanent ban is that it would drive the bird trade underground. This is nonsense. There is already an illegal bird trade and banning what is presently legal would reduce the number of exotic birds crossing borders and the risk of diseases spreading. Breeders can always supply more than enough parrots and other birds for the pet market. They are healthier, tamer and make better pets.
The bird flu threat has also highlighted the lack of understanding about wild birds and their habits. Much has been said about the impending "menace" of next spring's migration, and the fact that many more wild birds will be involved, resulting in an increased threat. But this is not necessarily true.
The winter influx to Europe is mainly from the east and includes millions of geese, swans and ducks. They are more likely to mix with birds that are in contact with humans.
Although greater in number, the spring migrants will come mainly from Africa and will be mostly songbirds. Bird flu might have reached Africa, but migrants from there are less likely to mix with our domesticated birds.
The death of dozens of people is a tragic consequence of the outbreak. But let's also spare a thought for the birds. Aside from the many that have already died, there are many bird species at the brink of extinction, and flu could push them over the edge. Some of these are only in captive collections. For these creatures, flu could result in total annihilation.
The parrot that died in quarantine has become an icon of the menace. But no one seemed to care what kind it was. There were TV pictures of all kinds of parrots -- conures, macaws and amazons included. One report even showed an owl. Getting the right species should not have been beyond the wit of reporters.
A correspondent reporting from a windswept corner of the Danube delta talked of migratory swans arriving from Siberia and how they might bring the disease into contact with domestic birds. This is certainly a real risk. But then it was suggested that these swans might nest with the local ones.
Not true. Their migration is to avoid the very harsh winter conditions to the east, not to snuggle up with the local birds and lay eggs.
During these unsure times, it is important that we make the effort to understand the wild birds that naturally visit Britain while recognizing that the suffering created by the trapping and shipment of wild birds is unnecessary and in the 21st century should be unacceptable.
The one-month temporary ban will on its own spare 100,000 wild birds. Surely we should be doing that every month.
Tony Juniper is the author of Spix's Macaw and the co-author of Parrots.
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