HC Deb 06 November 2002 vol 392 cc348-9W
Norman Baker

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what percentage of exotic birds imported into the UK for the last year for which figures are available were dead on arrival. [79033]

Mr. Morley

Records of imported CITES listed birds found dead on arrival are taken from copies of used import permits submitted to the UK CITES Management Authority by HM Customs & Excise. Our records show that during 2001 (the last full year for which records are available) a total of 62 birds (0.92 per cent.) were noted as dead on arrival.

Norman Baker

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many exotic birds were imported into the UK in the past 12 months; for what purposes they were imported; and from which countries they were imported. [79030]

Mr. Morley

Our records show that from November 2001 to November 2002 a total of 10983 birds listed under the CITES Convention were imported into the UK from 37 different countries for the following purposes:

  • Breeding: 167
  • Educational: 18
  • Personal: 84
  • Circus & travelling exhibition: 1
  • Scientific: 47
  • Commercial: 10662
  • Zoos: 4
The exporting countries were: Alderney, Austria, Bahrain. Cameroon, Canada, China, Cyprus, Egypt, Ethiopia, Guernsey, Guinea, Guyana, Iceland, Isle of Man, Ivory Coast, Jersey, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Mexico, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, Suriname, Switzerland, Tanzania, UAE, US and Zimbabwe.

Norman Baker

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many exotic birds were imported into the UK for each year from 1997 to date, broken down into(a) wild-caught and (b) captive-bred. [79031]

Mr. Morley

There is no CITES definition of the term "exotic bird" but imports of CITES listed birds from outside the EU are controlled under EC CITES Regulations. Our records show that between 1 January 1997 and 31 October 2002 a total of 32346 wild taken and 4901 captive bred CITES listed birds were imported into the UK. The year by year breakdown is:

Year Wild taken Captive bred Total
1997 4800 357 5157
1998 4845 422 5267
1999 4826 411 5237
2000 3995 1551 5546
2001 5565 1114 6679
2002 8315 1046 9361