130 



6. Amend Section 107, "Qualifying Facilities", and require the USFWS to 

 issue regulations which will promote the captive breeding of exotic birds in the 

 United States and foreign countries and insure the free importation of captive bred 

 exotic birds into the United States as a tool to promote aviculture and exotic bird 

 conservation, and to control illegal trade. 



On March 17, 1994, the USFWS proposed complicated and intrusive 

 regulations under Section 107 as a precondition to allowing captive-bred birds to be 

 imported into the United States. The draft regulations were so unworkable and 

 intrusive that they resulted in a massive outcry from aviculture. Unfortunately, no 

 final regulations have been adopted. Therefore, it is impossible for Congress to 

 review these during this oversi^t process. The draft regulations as proposed would 

 surely have deterred captive breeding and would certainly not have promoted it. 

 They were also hypocritical. The USFWS requires only a simple affidavit of captive- 

 breeding to allow CiltS-listed birds bred in the United States to be exported from 

 the United States. The regulation of legitimate captive-bred birds has nothing to do 

 with wild exotic bird populations. It was not the intent of the WBCA to regulate 

 captive-bred birds. The fear of "laundering" (trading in wild-caught birds alleging 

 they are captive-bred) is used to justify the proposal of overly restrictive regulations 

 to control importation of captive-bred birds. This is neither appropriate nor 

 acceptable. 



Currently, WBCA Section 107 is a simple section for which the USFWS has 

 proposed complicated and excessive regulations requiring, among other things, 

 disclosure of proprietary husbandry and breeding ii\formation, proof of origin of 

 breeding stock, cage sizes, diet and other detaul in such a way as to deter any but the 

 largest captive breeding facilities with huge staffs from qualifying. This will not 

 insure agaii\st laundering, but will effectively eliminate from trade most captive 

 breeding facilities which do not have the staff or funds to complete and furnish the 

 paperwork which the USFWS requires. This was not the intent of Congress which 

 stated in the Report "It is also the intent of the Committee that the paperwork 

 burden required of captive breeding facilities be miiumized, especially cts it applies to 

 small facilities that employ few people." Report page 18. This directive was either 

 missed or disregarded by the USFWS in its proposed regulations. The regulations as 

 proposed will even discourage participation by larger facilities which might comply 

 with reasonable and workable regulations as a cost of trade with the United States. 

 Most individuals would sooner pursue unregulated trade with other countries 

 rather them comply with unworkable or intnisive U.S. regulations and delays. 



Aviculture requests that the WBCA be amended and that Congress instruct 

 the USFWS to effectively allow and promote the importation of captive-bred birds 

 under Section 107, as follows: 



(i) Require an affidavit from the facility of breeding that birds to be 

 imported were bred from parents housed at the facility. 



