§ Mr. BakerTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what recent figures he has obtained in respect of the number of wild-caught birds imported into the United Kingdom; and what percentage of wild-caught birds imported into the United Kingdom in the last year for which figures are available are estimated to have been dead on arrival. [22969]
§ Angela EagleThe Department maintains records of trade only in the species listed in the Annexes to Council Regulation (EC) No. 338/97, which govern the import into EU Member States. At present, these records do not include data on the number of birds that were dead on arrival but we intend to gather mortality statistics when systems can be put in place. From the data returned so far, some 4,598 wild-caught birds were imported in 1997.