164 



WILDLIFE CONStRVATION SOCIETY 



1 have reml uarefiilly and approve entirely of the existing 

 longuaflR in th« section o± the WBCA (Section 107) that deals with 

 how a loreign captive breeding facility can qualify to export 

 captive bred birds to the U.S. T))at section is perfect the way 

 it is. It is not especially lenient on foreign facilltieB, and 

 does not give them much benefit of the doubt, but given the 

 number of phony captive breeding facilities in the tropical 

 countries (including a number that I personally have 

 investigated), it is entirely appropriate that this section 

 remain strong and set high stajndards. Keeping this section 

 strong is what genei-ates incentive within tropical range 

 countries for local governments and land owners to experiment 

 with sustainable, humane methods of parrot ranching that will 

 help rather than harm wild populations. In fact, such 

 sustainable wild rnnnhing wouJd provide Incentive for parrot 

 ranchers to protect wild habitat and to bring adult breeding 

 fopuJations to their maximum wlJd carrying capacity (Juat aa 

 cattle ranchers try to increase their herd of valuable, 

 reproducing females) . 



i:k)ftHnir)g section 10V would only open loopholes for unsustainably 

 caught wl 1(1 birds to ooroe into the U.S. under the guise of 

 'captive bred". Opening such loopholes would allow the 

 irresponsible, cruel wholesale parrot exporters from the tropical 

 countries and the ten large importers in the U.S. to return to 

 the destructive, immoral "business as usual" of trafficking birds 

 from wherever and whomever shows up on the doorstep with a cage 

 Jammed with a mixture of stressed, sick and less sick parrots. 



C)n another specific issue, 1 notice that some irresponsible 

 people who call themselves "avlculturisto ' are claiming 

 erroneoosly that tl)ere are identification syatems in use within 

 the community of American bird hobbiests that can readily 

 distingxilsh captive -bred and hatched birds from birds found In 

 the wild iX)pulation- If they are referring to closed bands put 

 on babies soon after hatching or microchipping baby kjirds soon 

 after hatching (by injecting a small, electronically-readable 

 microchip in the breast muscJe of the bird), then they are 

 misleading you. In fact, both of these techniques can be carried 

 out in the wild on i I Jegally-caught wild baby birds, which then 

 can be passed off aa captive-bred birds. If a reliable 

 independent authoi'ity (either a government or "non-avlcultural ' 

 oonaervatlon group) controlled the production, disti'ibution, and 

 oversight of non-counterf el table microchips with unique, non- 

 ooplable cK)defi, then it might be possible to design a system that 

 could eJiminate cheating. Hut as of yet, such a system does not 

 exist and, to my knowledge, has not even been proposed. 



