This consultation ended 24 March 2015.
Summary of outcome
The consultation and summary of responses are available on the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) website (external link)
Any enquiries regarding this publication in England should be sent to Defra at: BirdTrade.Consultation@defra.gsi.gov.uk
Original consultation
The UK Government's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), the Scottish Government and the Welsh Ministers are seeking views on proposed changes for regulating the trade of captive-bred birds in England, Scotland and Wales.
Consultation description
In Britain all wild birds are protected by law from being killed injured and taken from the wild by the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (the ‘1981 Act’). This protection does not extend to birds bred in captivity which people may lawfully possess – though they must be able to show that the bird is lawfully held if challenged.
This consultation aims to:
- set out the current legislative and administrative regime under which live captive-bred birds may be lawfully traded in Wales Scotland and England
- discuss a key issue that has been identified with the current regime regarding the onward-selling of birds imported from other Member States
- identify a number of options for addressing this issue
- seek views on these options
- discuss and seek views on a number of additional related issues.
This is a public consultation and it is open to anyone with an interest to provide comments. The consultation should be of particular interest to those involved in the selling or buying of captive-bred birds and enforcement authorities.