EU flu barriers save rare birds

Europe must learn lessons from the ruddy duck, according to bird conservationists.

EU environmental group BirdLife says a ban on imports of wild birds to the EU, introduced last year to prevent the spread of bird flu, must now be kept on conservation grounds.

The ban has not only saved more than a million wild birds from being sold into the European pet trade, says BirdLife, but has also protected EU species from non-native threats.

The UK for example currently spends almost 5 million euro a year trying to wipe out the ruddy duck, originally imported from America and now threatening the British white- headed duck.

BirdLife wants the support of Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas ahead of an EU veterinary experts meeting next Monday and Tuesday (3-4 July) that will decide whether the ban can be lifted.

A spokesman for the Commission's environment department said the question had been discussed at a meeting of environment ministers this week at the request of Belgium, which wants a ban.

"In principle, Dimas supports the idea but it is a question of finding the way to do it," she explained. "CITES [the European Convention on Trade in Endangered Species] is not the best instrument; we have to find the best way."

A spokesman for the Commission's health department, which is responsible for the current bird flu measures, was unable to comment on whether the ban would be lifted next week.

Only a permanent ban would protect birds in the long run, according to Sacha Cleminson of BirdLife.

Before the temporary wild bird ban, the EU imported up to two million birds a year, 90% of the world market. About half of some species die on the way to European shops.

"We are the last major importers of wild birds," said Cleminson. "Countries including the US, Australia and Brazil imposed considerable import and export bans years ago."

It is time for the EU to catch up, he said, before more species die out.

The latest bird likely to be added to the CITES red list, prohibiting trade altogether because of the low number left, is the African grey parrot, according to BirdLife.

"This is an iconic failure of EU policy," said Cleminson. "The EU is the largest international importer of the African grey parrot and recent evidence suggests that it has suffered so much that much of the trade must be shut down," he added.

"This is a condemnation of the EU's own system of import quotas."

The bird flu ban gives Europe an opening to set things straight, he said. Only a blanket ban on endangered and non-endangered wild birds would be enforceable, he added, since airport customs officers cannot be expected to spot the difference between a hyacinth macaw and a blue macaw.

Europe must learn lessons from the ruddy duck, according to bird conservationists.