Proposed Nanday Conure ban in PA

[Peaches]

I just got this in an e-mail. The article says the birds will be grandfathered in.

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Feel free to share this article w/ other bird boards you belong too. Nandays WILL be grandfathered. You have it in writing now.

No, no, Nanday - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

QUOTE:

Bird owners are raising a flap over a Pennsylvania Game Commission plan to ban a fowl some now keep as pets.
With phone calls and postings on Internet bulletin boards, owners of Nanday conures are trying to get a flock of protesters to a Harrisburg public hearing this weekend in hopes of blocking a rule that would prohibit the birds' importation, sale, possession and release.

If the South American birds -- also known as black-hooded parakeets -- aren't kept out, the commission claims, escaped conures might spread disease or form colonies that compete with native species for food and nesting sites.

Roberta Weisensee, founder of West View-based Pittsburgh Parrot Rescue and owner of two Nanday conures, said the game commission is just flapping its wings. Nanday conures can't live through the winter, she said.

"They could never find the proper food and couldn't survive the natural climate in Pennsylvania," she said.
Tennessee already bans the foot-long green birds, which eat mostly seeds and berries.

"If they can survive in Tennessee, they can survive in Pennsylvania," commission spokesman Jerry Feaser said.

U.S. birdwatchers spotted 920 of the birds last year in the wild, according to the National Audubon Society. Neither it nor the commission has an estimate of how many live in Pennsylvania, either in the trees or in cages.

With Tuesday's scheduled vote approaching, the commission has a bird-ban precedent. The state prohibits the Quaker parrot, in spite of the Argentinian fowl's Pennsylvania-friendly name.

Donald Blosser, owner of Pretty Birds pet store in Millvale, said he used to sell two to four Nanday conures a year. They were not popular enough to keep in his inventory, Blosser said, but he still thinks a statewide ban is unjustified.

"If anything was there to show this was a problem in Pennsylvania, I'd be there to help," Blosser said.

Nanday conure owner Melissa Burkhardt said it's not just the cold temperatures that would keep the birds from thriving.

"These are hand-raised birds," said the Monroeville woman, who runs Sprite's Avian Friends Endeavor, a bird rescue group.

"They don't know how to forage for food. They rely on humans for everything," Burkhardt said.

She and other bird owners said they at least want a grandfather clause in any ownership ban, so they can keep their conures.

A new regulation would not include a grandfather clause, Feaser said, but the enforcement guidelines conservation officers use would have one.

[yambasticks]

today is the day for the meeting so everyone concerned, please pray for our little green friends, and the people that love them and are doing what they can to protect them.

[Markus]

Any updates on the meeting??

[iowahawk1]

This is taken directly from the PA Game Commission website. The release is dated January 29, 2008.

2008 Press Releases
Pennsylvania Game Commission - State Wildlife Management Agency
Release #008-08


BOARD TAKES OTHER ACTION

In other action today, the Board of Game Commissioners:
...

- Gave preliminary approval to a change in regulations to clarify the current prohibition on the importation, possession, sale and release of all non-human primates. Before adoption, the Board removed language specifically referencing the Conure-Nanday, sometimes referred to as the Blackhooded Parakeet....

Here is the link: Pennsylvania Game Commission - State Wildlife Management Agency: Release #008-08

[MrRick]

Cross posting requested.

I have just received a call from Kristy Garcia of The Coalition of Pennsylvania Aviculturists (TOCPA), and Kelly Williams of the American Federation of Aviculture (AFA), who, together with Rick Rowland of TOCPA, attended all sessions of the Pennsylvania Game Commission to advocate for the rights of bird owners to own and keep their Nanday Conures and other exotic birds in Pennsylvania.

Kristy and Kelly asked me to relay the good news that Nanday Conures have been removed from the proposal to amend 58 PA Code Section 137.1.

This means that Nanday Conures WILL NOT BE BANNED IN PENNSYLVANIA.

Kristy, Rick, and Kelly will have more information later today or tomorrow when they issue their full report to us. Right now they are on their way home, and will be taking a well-deserved rest from their three days of advocating for you and your birds.

Kelly wanted us to know that the Commissioners thanked them and all who appeared at the hearing, for their politeness, organization, professionalism, and thoroughness in addressing the Commission. They said that it is obvious that we all love our birds and they were impressed that so many people took the time to come before the Commission and advocate for them.

I want to personally say THANK YOU to Kristy, Kelly, and Rick, and everyone who called, faxed, wrote, emailed, and attended the hearing. Each person who got involved played an important part in this victory for bird owners and our birds. Without your help the Nanday Conure would have been banned in Pennsylvania. With your help we were able to show the Commission that a ban of this bird was not necessary either to protect human health or wildlife habitat.

I hope that each of you who responded this time will view this victory as a learning experience, and that you will continue to respond when we ask for help fighting other restrictive animal proposals that come up in other areas.

Thank you again.

Genny Wall
AFA Legislative VP
gennygem2@aol.com
American Federation of Aviculture