If you want to legally keep your pigeons you will have to register where they live. The following comes from the RPRA and has to be actioned by the dates shown.
Don’t get caught out! We know it’s a long read but it would seem to be important, so for all our sakes please take the time to do it.
Brian and Jill
During the recent outbreaks of Avian Flu local councils had to send their environmental officers out to locate bird keepers to ensure the birds were kept safely under cover to prevent further outbreaks. As you can imagine this was a very difficult and very costly exercise. DEFRA looked for a solution and decided that registering all bird keepers with a County, Parish and Holding number, known as a CPH number, would allow them to send an email or letter directly to bird keepers to ensure high bio security measures were upheld during the outbreak in the area. Some have imagined this would bring upon themselves a hoard of DEFRA officials clothed in white overalls, gloves and breathing apparatus wandering around their garden to view the birds. This would only occur if your birds had contracted Avian Flu and in such a case, public health has to take priority.
Please be assured that it is no way the same requirements we must comply with to race from France, the yearly vet visit and declaration is an EU requirement. This is purely a requirement for all bird keepers to register for a county parish and holding number.
The information below will direct you to the relevant government directives;
Subject: New measures to help protect keepers, their birds and the general public from notifiable avian diseases
As you may be aware, a GB-wide consultation took place in 2023, facilitated by Defra on behalf of the Scottish Government, the Welsh Government and the UK Government, regarding the registration of kept birds in GB. The joint-government response and summary of responses to the poultry registration consultation was published on gov.uk.
As a result, all GB administrations have laid legislation that requires all bird keepers – even those who keep only a single bird – to officially register their bird location(s). Currently, only those who keep 50 or more poultry must do so, limiting the effectiveness of our national disease control measures. In Scotland, this legislation is the Avian Influenza (Preventive Measures) (Scotland) Amendment order 2024.
In Scotland, keepers have between 1 September and 1 December 2024 to register the location of their birds on the new Scottish Kept Bird Register (SKBR). Those previously registered on the GB Poultry Register will be required to re-register on the SKBR between these dates.
In England and Wales, keepers are encouraged to register their birds ahead of the legal deadline on 1 October 2024.
The new requirements apply to owners of commercial and backyard flocks, birds of prey, pigeon fanciers, and all other captive birds (including pets), but do not apply to birds on premises that belong to the order psittaciformes (parrot family, including budgerigars) or passeriformes (perching birds, including jays and finches), which have no outdoor access and are housed within a fully enclosed structure.
By registering their birds, keepers will ensure they receive important updates relevant to them, such as on any local avian disease outbreaks and important information on biosecurity rules to help protect themselves and their flocks.This will help to manage potential disease outbreaks, such as avian influenza and Newcastle disease, and limit any spread. The information on the register will be used to identify all bird keepers in disease control zones, allowing for more effective surveillance, so that zones can be lifted at the earliest possible opportunity, freeing keepers from disease control restrictions.
These changes come following the UK’s worst ever outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), with more than 360 cases across Great Britain since late October 2021, including in a significant number of backyard flocks. We have also seen a change in the epidemiology of the disease. Prior to 2021, HPAI in the UK was seasonal, and outbreaks would start when wild waterfowl migrated into GB in autumn, and would end when these wild waterfowl departed in summer. During the last three years, the circulating strain of HPAI H5N1 was detected in a wider range of wild bird species, with maintenance of the virus in different native UK wild bird species throughout the summer months. We have also observed spill-over of infection into a broad range of mammalian hosts globally, highlighting the potential for viral adaptation and a resultant increased zoonotic risk (risk of disease transmitting from animals to humans).
The SKBR will be launched on 1 September 2024 and will provide a one-stop-shop registration portal for all keepers with birds in Scotland, taking less than 10 minutes to register. The system will allow Scottish keepers to populate, access and amend their information at any time, whilst also prompting keepers to refresh their information on a 12-month rolling basis (in line with legislation). The aim of this online system is to encourage registration through provision of a simple, user friendly tool, whilst significantly increasing the scope and accuracy of the information that is available to the Animal and Plant Health Agency during an outbreak scenario.
Further information on the registration of birds can be found on gov.scot, gov.uk and gov.wales.
Please share this information with any of your organisation members, friends or family as appropriate.
North Staffordshire Federation News 