This may be the least popular article on Finchme but I really think that it’s important to know that legally if you keep finches (or any birds for that matter) you are supposed to register with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. Legislation to control trade and preserve wildlife in Philippines is regulated and anyone holding birds native or exotic is supposed to report on their status four times a year. According to my local DENR office, any bird excluding domestic poultry but including even single pets must be registered with them however even the DENR is unlikely to ever look. I would however recommend that you keep all receipts even if you don’t register.
Commercial Wildlife Farm Permits were issued back in 2004 at a cost of P2500 for commercial business transacting >P1500000 or more per year even if the birds were illegally obtained up to that time. Permits to register as a Wildlife Farm are required from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (http://www.denr.gov.ph/article/view/2049/) and support the regulation of traded birds pursuant to Executive Order 192 (June 10, 1987) and sections 17, & 20 of the Republic Act (June 30, 2001). In theory, all birds for sale since 2004 are these birds or their descendants as recorded in quarterly reports that must be submitted to DENR listing all birds held and any subsequent births or deaths or acquisitions along with a stated origin. Unfortunately even if you only have a single budgie these reports are required.
Wildlife farm permit holders must also institute a banding or micro-chipping system. Birds can be disposed of legally through sale, exchange or donation and approval for export may be grated for CITES listed species upon proof of legal ownership. Bird owners must maintain housing deemed suitable for housing and quarantine and be responsible for all coasts arising from any disease or escape arising from the registered facility. Bio-prospecting from the listed fauna is not permitted on the Wildlife Farm Permit. The permit holder must also undertake sole or collective responsibility to “pursue an Environmental Conservation Program”. Registration is valid for 5 years and the facility may be subject to search by officers of the DENR. Birds must be registered regardless of whether they are native or not. Endangered native species are subject to more stringent protection. The conservation status of endangered birds is available on the government web site http://www.tanggol.org/environmental_laws/DAO_48.html.
It is the responsibility of all registered owners to obtain veterinary confirmation of the cause of death of any bird. Even more onerously bird owners are legally liable for any actions or costs traceable to their birds so in theory if your zebra finches escaped and established a feral population you have to pay for their eradication, any crop losses attributed to the new exotic pest and who knows what would happen if your birds were found to be H5N1 vectors responsible for human death.
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Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackHi Greg. Does DENR have any information on how many people actually comply with the law? I myself am not aware of it when my friend gave me my first pair of zebra finches.
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Even more onerously bird owners are legally liable for any actions or costs traceable to their birds so in theory if your zebra finches escaped and established a feral population you have to pay for their eradication, any crop losses attributed to the new exotic pest and who knows what would happen if your birds were found to be H5N1 vectors responsible for human death.
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Has something like this happened already in other countries?
Thanks.
The level of compliance is pretty low. According to my local DENR there are 200 people with registered birds. I’m not sure if the office only holds records only for Los Banos but I suspect that it’s all Laguna. The province actually has around 2 million people so compliance is 0.01%! I would estimate that in any 5 year period around 30% of households would have at least one bird.
As for the aspect of legal responsibility I think that this is pretty standard legislation around the world. I also think that if they went on to prosecute that “ownership” of feral birds would be impossible to prove. H5N1 bird flu on the other hand might be more difficult to get out of if your birds ended up as the index case. The problem with bird flu is exposure to wild birds and if you are keeping your stock inside in a bird room or have a completely roofed aviary then the risk is minimal except when you introduce new birds. When you introduce new birds it is always recommended to quarantine them away from your collection for a least two weeks. Make sure that you wash your hands after handling the birds and between birds. Make sure you don’t inadvertently transfer faces on your shoes and that about as much as you can do short of having a C5 biological containment facility – and these aren’t as attractive as an aviary and a lot more expensive
As much as I like visiting Cartimar it is the weakest link in the system. Here unfortunately you do come into contact with wild birds and some are smuggled from Indonesia where the most numbers of human deaths from bird flu have occurred. In Indonesia in those districts where bird flu has occurred all birds have had to be surrendered and euthanized. Even vaccination probably won’t stop the prophylactic destruction by the authorities even if your birds are healthy. I’ve seen it happen in Indonesia with bird flu and in Australia with NewCastles disease.
hi greg, i am so glad to hear that kind of article coming directly from denr people (you are so obvious hijo), but you have to keep in mind that most people out there are’nt aware of the said law or requirements, or if they do, do you think these poor fellow would go out of their way to denr office just to register the zebra finch they bought from “g” petshop at cartimar eh hindi nga marunong mag issue ng resibo, greg, try to scrutinize what kind of stupid regulations is that, why not give the seller petshop the responsibility to issue receipts and the application for registration which the buyer would filled out at the very petshop, but for us to go to the very incompetent denr office led by not so honorable lito atienza, i would rather go to hell. greg, and your contention of prosecuting the meer “ownership” is moot and academic, you have to make a law for that, kung hindi mababasura ang complaint mo, why? wala nga bird flu dito sa atin.
hi greg, thanks for the information, can i ask whats the basic requirements in registering a certain wildlife species in the possession of private wildlife collectors? As far as i know registration of wildlife, legally or illegally acquire has ended up last march 4, 2005 if im not mistaken. I know for a fact that you can only register a certain wildlife species if you have acquired them from legal sources. What if my wildlife species does not came from legal source? Can i still register my wildlife? Will the DENR People confiscate my wildlife because it is not registered?
Hi ShadowDancer,
Mr. Greg Fitzwell is from Australia and is a guest member of FinchMe. He’s just posted a little introduction on himself and I hope you have the time to read it because it’s as entertaining as it is informative.
you are right shadow dancer that most private wildlife collectors are not aware that there is such a law or requirements that a all wildlife that is in possession of a private individuals must be register to denr. In my case, what will happen to my wildlife collection? Ireregister ko ba ito? Or itatago ko na lang sa bahay namin since wala naman nakakaalam na my collection ako. Will the denr people confiscate it? San nila dadalhin ang mga wildlife collection ko?
Ignorantia juris non excusat” that is how the law suppose to apply, art 3 ncc: ignorance of the law excuses no one from compliance therewith, this legal maxim only apply to the situation that when all the parameters of the legal procedures has been observed; in the case of the DENR, there is a law saying that any bird excluding poultry must be registered with the DENR, that is a FACT, but one of the elements of such law has been overlooked, the DENR freezes its registration and it doesn’t provide for any alternative procedures to alter the situation, now the question is, does the DENR has the capacity to confiscate illegally acquired birds (illegally acquired, means that the source of such bird is not a Farm Permittee)? The answer to the question posted by wildbirds is NO. The effect “if” the DENR confiscates wildbird’s zebra finch would be tantamount to the denial of due process of law and violation of the right of ownership. Now if the DENR would invoked “ignorance of the law excuses no one from compliance therewith” your defense would be, that the agency that is suppose to implement the said law, has freezes its effectivity, remember only the house of representatives has the power to revoked or repeal the law, yeah, they (DENR) dint revoked or repeal the law, but they cease its effectivity, so technically, if there is no law governing such act, logically, no punishment may be incurred. In 2005, the DENR opened its door for those who wish to registered their illegally acquired birds, and to obtain the so called Certificate of Wildlife Registration (CWR) the said CWR is also a requirement to obtain the Farm Permit, take note that, only the holder of the Farm Permit has allowed to sell the progenies of their breeding pairs. The registration ran for 60 days (that is according to a DENR person who happened to be my friend). What happened after the said amnesty registration? NOTHING. The problem of illegal acquisition of wildlife is still there, and the population of these hobbyist who wish to have their pet registered is continously growing, because of the fact that the law enforcers or the agency that is suppose to implement such law is as ineffective as if the said law does not exist at all. May Pangil ang batas ang DENR wala. (sis sorry)
To Mr. Greg, welcome to the Philippines and i hope you’ll discover what kind of bureaucracy we have here, sorry EO 192 speaks of the reorganization of DENR. Here is the title: PROVIDING FOR THE REORGANIZATION OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENT, ENERGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES, RENAMING IT AS THE DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.
To Wildbirds, dont ever worry, i’ll fight for our right. To Shadow Dancer, keep the cool, ok ka lang? Punta ka sa bahay bigyan kita canary. Please visit http://www.royalcanary.finchme.com
I think I may have been accused of being a DENR Trojan but I’m not. I do support the conservation of birds and their habitat in the wild but I’m not against sustainable managed harvests, however we do have to operate within the law. As for whether the DENR would confiscate unregistered birds if they were aware of them I know they have the right to but presently they don’t seem to have the will or the means.
I’m afraid a lot of the Tagalog is escaping me but the tone is clear. I did say from the beginning that this would be the least favourite article on Finchme. Yes registration for wildlife in private possession ended in 2005 and anything purchased since then should either be those same individuals or their descendants. Rather than seeing this law as a challenge to our rights to keep birds it can be an opportunity to increase the profitability of aviculture. What are seen as rubbish birds now like the native Lonchura species (spice finch, while-bellied and chestnut munia) would become desirable species. I’ve seen the same thing happen in Australia when this style of legislation was introduced in the 1970’s. Common birds like double bars increased in value because they don’t readily breed in captivity and rare birds like the Gouldian are now well protected in captivity while their numbers continue to decline in the wild in spite of fauna protection law. I would love to discover legal sources of native finches but the list stops at the Java sparrow and how good would it be if rare ones like the parrot finches were as freely available as are Gouldian finches.
Greg, the DENR has the right to confiscate unregistered bird specifically those classified as endangered (we have no problem with that)and the exotic in certain cases, provided that DENR would exercise all the parameters of the law, meaning, they have to make the law known to all (the effectivity of the law in general is 15 days upon publication in general circulation), and once it is implemented, only the house of representatives has the sole right to revoke or repeal it. If you are not seeing such act as a threat to our rights, better read the Bill of Rights of The Philippine Constitution.
I’m glad we have a contitutional lawyer advising us in case something ever happens which as the warlock poinded out is unlikely.
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