Natural Environment and Rural Communities Bill

moved Amendment No. 293A:"After Clause 48, insert the following new clause—" ““IMPORT OF EXOTIC BIRDS (1)   The importation of any exotic bird of a species listed in Annex A and Annex B of EU Regulation 338/97 shall be prohibited unless the Secretary of State is satisfied that— (a)   the trade in that species does not constitute a threat to the conservation of that species or of any other listed species, (b)   that the method of capture used for obtaining specimens from the wild did not involve undue suffering, and (c)   that the means of transport from the place of capture into the United Kingdom shall meet criteria for welfare as may be specified by the Secretary of State. (2)   The Secretary of State may by statutory instrument subject to the negative resolution procedure extend the provisions of subsection (1) to species listed in Annex C of the Regulations. (3)   The Secretary of State may by statutory instrument subject to the affirmative resolution procedure extend the provisions of subsection (1) to any other species of bird not indigenous to the United Kingdom. (4)   In this section ““exotic bird”” includes any live or dead bird that is not indigenous to the United Kingdom including any egg or offspring thereof but does not include— (a)   domestic poultry, dead sport-hunted birds, dead museum specimens, dead scientific specimens, or products manufactured from such birds; or (b)   birds in the following families: Phasianidae, Numididae, Cracidae, Meleagrididae, Megapodiidae, Anatidae, Struthionidae, Rheidae, Dromaiinae, and Gruidae. (5)   Subsection (1) shall not apply to any bird where the Secretary of State is satisfied that its importation is for the purpose of— (a)   scientific research, (b)   approved breeding programmes, or (c)   zoological display. (6)   The Secretary of State may by order make such provision as may be necesary for the implementation of this section.”” The noble Baroness said: I apologise that the groupings on the next couple of amendments were not quite correct. I am grateful to the Minister, because we have notified him of the changes. On this occasion, I am dealing specifically with Amendment No. 293A, on the import of exotic birds. We have a series of six or seven amendments on this very important topic. I am encouraged by the Government’s response to the amendment proposed by the noble Lord, Lord Carter. However, could we not have the consultation a bit quicker rather than have to wait 15 months for it? If it were possible to have it sooner, that would be better. The aim of the amendment is threefold. First, that,"““the trade in that species does not constitute a threat to the conservation of that species or of any other listed species””," secondly,"““that the method of capture used for obtaining specimens from the wild did not involve undue suffering””," and thirdly,"““that the means of transport from the place of capture into the United Kingdom shall meet criteria for welfare as may be specified by the Secretary of State””." I suspect that we shall cover quite a lot of the ground from the previous amendment, moved by the noble Baroness, Lady Miller. So I shall slightly précis my comments. Amendment No.293A looks in particular at the question of the import of exotic birds. It is tabled to address two major problems: the control of the wild bird trade and the consequential treatment of traded birds. The trade in wild exotic bird species is beset by problems. The wild bird trade is huge and CITES is unable to monitor effectively the numbers of birds taken for trade from the wild. We need only to look at the present figures. The mortality rate of caught birds is estimated to be as high as 60 per cent. Far from contributing to conservation, we believe that the trade is detrimental to it. The trade is a major conservation threat to globally threatened species—a subject on which the noble Baroness, Lady Miller, spoke earlier. As UK practice stands, the CITES lists of protected birds are appendices to the EC regulations. Those appendices then become annexes to UK regulations. Annexe A is a list of the species most threatened by the world bird trade, and Annexe D is a list of the least threatened. In order to trade within the UK, traders need only to apply for a permit—an Article 10 certificate—to trade in birds listed under Annexe A. Birds listed in Schedule 4 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 are also protected. Traders in those birds have a burden of proof to show documentary evidence that they are legally acquired. Yet birds not covered under Annexe A or Schedule 4 can be traded without restriction. The World Parrot Society states:"““Existing regulations are only partially enforceable and consequently fail to protect the species they target. CITES’ track record suggests that the regulations are not based on current scientific data, they are easily by-passed, they are only partially enforced, non-compliance is generally tolerated and sanctions are rarely implemented””." Our amendment addresses these problems of laxity in legislation. It is drafted along similar lines to the US Wild Bird Conservation Act 1992 and it would prohibit the importation of any bird under Annexe A. Subject to appropriate parliamentary procedure, it would also give the Secretary of State powers to add Annexe C, and any other species of birds not indigenous to the UK, to the list of birds prohibited to be imported. Since 1992, wild bird imports into the United States have dropped by 88 per cent. The US legislation, as we mentioned earlier, has been a real success. Far from driving that trade underground, as some might argue, both trade and the welfare of the birds have improved. The Act has been shown to benefit legitimate bird dealers by stemming the flood of wild caught birds into the American pet market. The importation of those wild birds dropped from 700,000 in the 1980s to a mere—though still far too many—80,000 in 1994. I am grateful to three organisations: Birds First refers in its briefing to the level of mortality in the caught wild live bird trade; the RSPB also quotes 60 per cent; and figures up to 75 per cent are quoted by the Environmental Protection Agency. Parrot-like birds tend to progress from Annexe B to Annexe A-listing on CITES, since there are no effective controls on the trade in the countries in which they are trafficked. Similarly, various Amazon parrots and cockatoos have recently been transferred from B to A-listing, as they have become rarer. I would also like to thank the Bio Veterinary Group, whose members are professional investigators, biologists and consultants, for its full support of this amendment. It also highlights the drop of 88 per cent of wild birds imported into America and raises the continuing problems of the importation of wild birds. The pet trade’s creating opportunities for the release of non-native species into the environment poses a subsequent ongoing threat to indigenous wildlife, something that we did not talk about much earlier but know has been a problem. Wild bird trade carries an unnecessary animal and public health risk, something that we did touch on. Serious zoonotic infections such as avian flu should not be underestimated. Again, queries have been raised by the Animal Protection Agency; it has grave views on the Government’s proposals for legalising pet markets, which will obviously contain many exotic animals. I beg to move.