Avian Diseases in Australia

[Tiki]

I just got back from the Parrot Society meeting. The guest speaker, Dr Bob Donely was excellent and had prepared presentations on Bird flu and PDD. The news is good for us anyway. He said there have been no new cases of avian flu in the last 8 years.

PDD is equally rare, probably due to the laws forbidding imported birds. There have only been 8 cases of PDD in Australia. 6 in Queensland (2 Ekkies, a BG Macaw, an IRN, a CAG and a Cockatoo. The 2 in NSW were a BG macaw and a Blacktail Cockatoo. The cases didn't spread outside their immediate area.

I will come back and post more when I wake up, getting late here!

[Lisa B]

That is good news.
When We had Dr Laura Wade stay here for a fundraiser, my husband asked her, how birds have survived since the dinosaurs and now are dying from diseases?
As you know, I am very careful and cautious wiht my babies. My husband always thought I was extreme.
Dr Wade explained that there were certain diseases in certain areas of the world. The species there through the years became kinda immune to them.
When We started to import/export parrots, the human race introduced these diseases to other species that were also being imported/exported, and that are not able to fight off the diseases, and they became rampid, and widly spread.

tho we are no longer importing/exporting the damage is done.

It is now up to us, to help find the cures for what we brought here to begin with.

[Tiki]

Lisa, I asked him if it was common to pick up diseases at bird fairs and pet shops and he said to do exactly what you do, shower and change clothes before handling your birds. I didn't tell him about your streaking upstairs though!

I learned a bit more about the history too. We stopped importing exotic birds to Australia in 1948! I didn't know it was that long ago. There was a brief window in the early 90's where it was legal and then prohibited again. He said that because of all the diseases, it is unlikely that birds will ever be allowed to import to Australia again. The birds that came down with PDD in Australia all died within a couple months.

[Lisa B]

Originally Posted by Tiki

Lisa, I asked him if it was common to pick up diseases at bird fairs and pet shops and he said to do exactly what you do, shower and change clothes before handling your birds. I didn't tell him about your streaking upstairs though!

.

[jamieo]

Australia has probably the strictest laws for the import/export of animals of any country in the world. I think it's been illegal to export birds (budgies, cockatiels, cockatoos, etc) from Australia since the late 1890s, which, I think, was a pretty progressive decision. Of course, you guys have had a lot of problems with exotic species (bunnies for one) so the laws are very logical.