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The Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) today (June 21) announced that a number of new licensing conditions would be introduced to prohibit pet bird traders from selling birds of unknown sources.
Traders' representatives from the Bird Garden in Mong Kok were briefed by the department's officials this afternoon on a package of measures that aimed at strengthening regulatory control of pet birds for sale. They were also told that all of the 68 shop owners would be provided with a one-off ex-gratia payment of $10,000 each as well as a one-month waiver to relieve their plight during the temporary closure of the Bird Garden.
To further improve the sanitary conditions of the Bird Garden, the department will require shop owners to conduct regular thorough cleansing on a monthly basis.
A department spokesman said the new licensing conditions would ensure that all the birds kept in the premises of licensed animal traders were from approved sources.
"The birds should either be legally imported into Hong Kong accompanied by valid health certificates or acquired from other licensed animal traders and covered by documentation, such as invoices and sale receipts, detailing the species, quantity, date of transaction and source," he said.
"In case the birds are hatched from eggs laid by birds owned by licensed animal traders, the licensee must report to the department before hatching birds and seek the department's agreement before the hatched birds are put on sale."
Under the new conditions, only birds free from infectious diseases are allowed to be sold. "Trade-in" of birds from clients and display for sale on behalf of clients and persons other than licensed animal traders are prohibited.
"Traders are required to keep an up-to-date detailed record of any transaction relating to any birds acquired, sold, movement and the balance of the bird stock in a register in a prescribed format," the spokesman added.
"Detailed record must also be kept for birds disposed of otherwise than by sale, such as by free gift."
The Bird Garden will remain closed until further notice. The department will continue to closely monitor the birds' health conditions and collect swab samples from shops for laboratory tests.
All of the 18 samples collected from the shop where the Durian Starling had been kept were negative for avian influenza after preliminary testing. Of the 137 samples collected from the other shops over the past few days, initial test results also showed that all were negative.
Ends/Thursday, June 21, 2007
Issued at HKT 19:35
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