§ Mr. OppenheimTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on his recent decision to suspend imports of captive birds from Tanzania.
§ Mr. MacleanIn my reply of 20 February to the hon. Member for Harrow, West (Mr. Hughes),Official Report, column 166, I explained that veterinary officials from the Ministry had visited several major exporting countries in order to impress upon their veterinary authorities the need to fulfil our import requirements and to follow International Air Transport Association standards during flights to the United Kingdom. I also made it clear that we would cease to authorise the import of birds from any country which failed to co-operate in implementing our requirements.
The issue of licences for import of captive birds from Tanzania was suspended because of the failure, despite numerous reminders, of the authorities there to respond to our request to send a veterinary official of the Department to discuss with them various animal health and welfare matters, the standard of health certification and the conditions under which future imports of captive birds would take place.
We have recently had a positive response from the authorities in Tanzania and one of our veterinary officials is arranging to make a visit this month. We have decided that, until we receive his report and are satisfied that imports of captive birds from Tanzania can take place under satisfactory health and welfare conditions, it would not be appropriate for the suspension of the issue of import licences to he lifted.
§ Mrs. Ann TaylorTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what was the number of humming birds imported into the United Kingdom in 1988 and 1989, indicating in each case the number dead on arrival and the number of deaths while in quarantine.
§ Mr. MacleanThe information is given below. Copies of the reports from which the figures are taken, "Imports of Birds—Mortality Statistics from Quarantine Returns", have been placed in the Library of the House.
591W
1988 1989 Humming birds imported1 128 158 Found dead on arrival 24 2 (Percentage dead on arrival) (18.75) (1.26) Died in quarantine 62 51 (Percentage died in quarantine) (48.44) (32.28) 1 Includes all species in the family Trochilidae (Humming birds).
§ Mr. GouldTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many (i) green-cheeked Amazon parrots and (ii) grey parrots were imported into the United Kingdom in each year since 1988.
§ Mr. MacleanThe information is given below. Copies of the reports from which the figures are taken, "Importation of Birds—Mortality Statistics from Quarantine Returns", have been placed in the Library of the House. Figures for the year 1990 are not yet available.
Number of birds imported 1988 1989 (I) Green-cheeked Amazona (Amazon Viridigenalis) 22 17 (II) Grey parrot (Psittacus Erithacus) 5,565 6,043
§ Mr. Ron Davies; To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will estimate the annual running cost of the regional veterinary investigations centres relating to investigations of mortalities among imported birds.
§ Mr. MacleanThe estimated annual running cost of the veterinary investigation centres relating to investigations of mortalities among imported birds for the year April 1990 to March 1991 is of the order of £350,000 at full economic cost.
§ Mr. Ron DaviesTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is his estimate of the number of imported wild birds which died after leaving quarantine for the most recent period for which data are available.
§ Mr. MacleanData on the number of imported birds which die after leaving quarantine are not collected by the Ministry.