31 



be amended to specify that the WBCA's coverage of exotic birds 

 hsted on Appendix III of CITES should only relate to birds found 

 in the countries of listing, as was intended by both the WBCA and 

 CITES. Fourth, the permit process under the regulations in Section 

 112(2) relating to the importation of personal pet birds should be 

 simplified. And we are delighted to hear about Fish and Wildlife's 

 progress in this. Fifth, Section 112(4) should be amended to elimi- 

 nate the regulatory requirement of tracking and reporting of U.S. 

 captive-bred offspring of imported birds. Sixth, regulations under 

 Section 107, which will promote captive breeding of exotic birds 

 and ensure the free importation of captive-bred birds into the Unit- 

 ed States, must be promptly adopted based upon the six-point ap- 

 proval process proposed by AFA in its written testimony. Seventh, 

 Section 106(b)(1) must be amended to provide that if a species is 

 regularly bred in captivity and wild-caught members of that species 

 are not in legal trade, it shall be placed on the captive-bred species 

 list as intended by Congress. Current regulations improperly dis- 

 qualify species regularly bred in captivity from being on the list if 

 any members of that species are in illegal trade. This policy pro- 

 motes smuggling. I would point out to the Chair that 45 species are 

 approved. It is my information that approximately 8600 species 

 exist. Eighth, sections 114(c) and 115 on marking should be elimi- 

 nated. Finally, a new section must be added to provide that not- 

 withstanding any law, regulation or policy to the contrary, exotic 

 birds bred from parent birds in the United States shall be consid- 

 ered legal regardless of a legality of their ancestral stock. 



AFA and aviculture sincerely hope that the various communities 

 concerned with the trade in exotic birds will understand that these 

 recommendations are constructive and will implement the intent of 

 Congress for sustainable trade and the promotion of captive breed- 

 ing and importation of captive-bred exotic birds into the United 

 States. If the humane, conservation, animal rights, anti-trade and 

 government regulatory communities cannot wholeheartedly support 

 the eventual sustainable trade in and wise use of wild-caught ex- 

 otic birds pursuant to appropriate management programs and the 

 free trade and importation of captive-bred exotic birds into the 

 United States, then AFA would consider requesting the repeal of 

 the Wild Bird Conservation Act as it would then be clear that the 

 support by these groups for this law is really based upon using the 

 WBCA as a ban on trade in exotic birds, captive bred or otherwise. 

 This would destroy aviculture and it will not save the birds. 



Thank you for this opportunity to present our views, and I would 

 be happy to answer any questions. 



[Statement of Gary Lilienthal may be found at end of hearing.] 



Mr. Saxton. Thank you very much. We will certainly take note 

 of your specific recommendations on various sections of the Act and 

 try to evaluate those. I would like to try to find a bottom line, and 

 all of you seem to indicate that you think the Act is a good idea, 

 that there are maybe some changes that ought to be made to it. 

 I didn't hear anyone say that it shouldn't exist at all, and so I 

 guess it is our job to try and determine what kinds of changes we 

 need to make either to the law or administratively to make it work 

 so that you don't have to wait six to nine months to obtain a per- 

 mit. 



