Call To Action
BY LAURELLA DESBOROUGH
Copyright Laurella Desbrough (eclectusbreeder.com).
All rights reserved by the author.
In our previous
discussion on the
critical issues facing
aviculture, we discussed
the need for a widely
supported avicultural
organization to act as
industry spokesman and
proactively address the
issues. On the positive
side, the American
Federation of Aviculture
(AFA) has from time to
time successfully taken
on the task of
representing the
interests of aviculture.
On the national level,
the AFA has been
responsible for positive
changes in a variety of
proposed regulations,
including the
regulations under the
Wild Bird Conservation
Act (WBCA) of 1992. The
AFA has acted in a
somewhat advisory
capacity with
individuals and groups
dealing with proposed
restrictive city, county
and state regulations.
In addition, the AFA has
for some time sent
representatives to the
meetings of the
internationally
important organization,
Convention on
International Trade in
Endangered Species of
Wild Fauna and Flora
(CITES). CITES is
composed of official
government
representatives from
over 140 countries and
of representatives of
nongovernmental
organizations or NGOs
(including AFA and
several animal rights
groups, among others).
Serious discussions on
issues relating to
birds, plants and
animals are held at
CITES Animals Committee
meetings and resolutions
are formed that are
presented at the main
conference meeting for
approval or disapproval
by the member nations.
(The WBCA was designed
to meet criteria
established by CITES
resolutions.) Since
1994, the AFA has sent a
representative to the
meetings of the Animals
Committee and provided
significant input to the
discussions on captive
breeding and the
definition of commercial
trade.
Although the AFA has
sought to meet the needs
of aviculture in the
United States in these
important ways, the AFA
has largely failed to
succeed in becoming
well-known throughout
the avicultural
community and failed to
receive the active
support of a large
portion of that
community. Many
aviculturists simply
believe that they do not
need to actively support
the AFA with their time
or money; they want to
be independent of any
organization. They
believe the AFA will
just go ahead and do
what is needed, whether
or not the funds are
available or individuals
have volunteered to do
the work. Some
individuals hold
long-standing political
differences with members
of AFA and work in
concert with the
organization only in
crisis situations, if at
all. The U.S.
avicultural community
needs to actively
support the AFA and work
with the organization to
make it more effective
in dealing with the
problems facing
aviculture. Or serious
bird breeders need to
create and
wholeheartedly support
another organization
that is designed to meet
the serious challenges
facing aviculture today.
If we fail to come
together and work in a
proactive professional
manner to meet the
challenges facing
aviculture, we will find
ourselves regulated out
of the bird business. We
will find prohibitive
restrictions on the
number and kinds of
birds that can be kept
as pets by citizens, we
will find inspections
and permits required for
bird breeding farms and
we will find
requirements governing
the sale of birds and
the transportation of
birds. As new coalitions
are formed between the
organizations and
agencies that want to
regulate us, we will
find ourselves less and
less able to
successfully defeat
proposed restrictive
rules.
We need to be less like
the ostrich and more
like the eagle—get our
heads out of the sand
and rise up high enough
to see the big picture.
Or, like the flightless
dodo that was unable to
escape its predators,
we, too, may become
extinct as our predators
eliminate us, regulation
by regulation. Time is
short and the situation
is grave...from
Albuquerque to Atlanta,
from Sacramento to
Toronto, the rule-makers
are at work on their
proposals to regulate
the keeping, breeding,
transportation and sale
of birds. The big
question is will the
serious hobbyists and
the serious bird farmers
see the problems,
understand the issues,
and work together to
create and support a
professional
organization which can
proactively address the
problems?
