To:

Agricultural, Fisheries and Conservation Department

Health, Welfare and Food Bureau

Dear Sirs,

Recently there are news on dead birds found in different parts of the territory which were proved to had H5N1 virus, and the public is worried about the outbreak of bird flu in Hong Kong. To safeguard the health of the public, AFCD have done a lot. The HKSAR also drawn up legistration in days to prohibit the keeping of poultry in private.

These policies should have nothing to do with us. Our pet birds are always being kept indoor. They do not have contact with wild birds, and the chance of getting H5N1 is dim. However, the general public are not aware of this fact. Due to ignorance and fear, some of them decided to release their pet birds to the wild. We have been told that one bird owner, who had kept the bird for over 14 years, released it to the wild due to the fear of H5N1. Most of other bird owners are also facing great pressure from family and neighbours. We are sure that there will be many poor birds being released as the bird flu fear intensifies.

The sad thing is, these pet birds just cannot live in the wild. They have been tamed by human for many years and have lost their ability to survive in the wild. The release of pet birds will also have adverse impact on the environment. In addition, it will increase the chance of getting the virus from wild birds. The increase in number of dead birds also trigger more fear from the public, and this snowballing effect is certainly not good to our society.

Thus, we hope that the Government can deliver the correct message to the public about the safety in keeping pet birds. In fact, pet birds with no contact with wild birds and with good hygiene should be safe from H5N1, and the Government should also discourage the public in releasing their pet birds to the wild. This can ease the anxiety of both the public and bird owners.

Finally, we understand that a licence of $10,000 per year is required for keeping pigeons, and we are very much worried that the requirement will be extended to pet birds later. The licence fee is far too high for ordinary citizens to bear, and to our knowledge, many bird owners are children. We hope that the Government should not just label all birds as pollutants so that bird sellers and owners are being discriminated as a matter of course. Maybe one day we will have to arrange addiitonal insurance for our birds. If the Government acts wilfully, we may have to express our discontent in other ways.

Thank you for your attention and I look forward to your reply.

Yours Sincerely,

A group of HK Citizens who care about animal rights.