Recently there has been renewed interest to import psittacine birds (parrots) into Australia. The department is currently processing an import risk analysis for parrots which if successful, would allow the importation of parrots - household and aviary birds – for the first time since 1995 from several approved countries. They are currently finalising the risk analysis after receiving over 130 submissions that were lodged before the September 2020 deadline. After listening to the very detailed hour-long webinar on the website they raised several key points (please feel free to expand or clarify any of these points as I am certainly no expert on the regulatory front and would be interested in learning more):
*1989 to 1995 was the last period of time that parrot imports were allowed into the country. 5000 birds were imported from approved countries during this window before the conditions were suspended due to disease concerns.
*this review was commenced in 2016 following ongoing requests from bird owners, hobbyists and zoos to develop a safe importation pathway. Interesting quote from webinar: “So I should say that whilst zoos and aviary places will be eligible, the original commencement of the review was based around pet birds. The most common thing being pet birds stuck overseas that people had taken with them or that they had acquired overseas, because a lot of these species are very long lived.” They also noted that this time round there is improved availability of scientific information about the key diseases and laboratory tests (e.g. collaboration with the Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness).
*they have created a distinction between household pets and aviary birds (zoos, wildlife parks and hobbyists) due to differing levels of biosecurity risk. Household birds were identified as having a different risk profile (living indoors, less contact with other birds) which will lead to the proposal of less restrictive containment measures than for the aviary birds.
*the import process would involve applying for an import permit (which is subject to change in regards to individual circumstances), a 35-day pre-export quarantine period under the supervision of an official vet including a series of tests/vet exam, travel to airport with set cage and cleaning requirements, travel to the quarantine station in Melbourne (Mickleham Quarantine Facility) for a 15-day quarantine and finally, release out of quarantine. The aviary birds would enter a higher level of quarantine containment than the household birds. For an aviary consignment the whole room would need to be hired out. The capacity of the quarantine room is enough room to hold around 500 small parrots (budgies) or approximately 40 large parrots (macaws). A postscript note was that there are actually two rooms that could be used for aviary birds: “there are two BC3 rooms – that could be used for aviary bird cohorts.”
*there has also been great interest to import new species. This is a whole other process involving amending the live import list. When the parrot IRA is completed the department expects a sizeable number of applications to be lodged to add species to the import list.
*the parrot IRA will be finalised sometime this year in 2021 [mentioned 13:40 in the webinar] when they are satisfied they can manage the risks.
A closing remark by one of the individuals working on the parrot IRA [mentioned at 1:00:06] : “But, if the draft is an indication of where we're going, I do expect imports can be facilitated with appropriate biosecurity measures.”
Relevant website (with webinar with a Q/A session): Psittacine birds (household pets and aviary) - Department of Agriculture
Transcript of webinar: https://www.agriculture.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/psittacine-birds-webinar-transcript.pdf
*1989 to 1995 was the last period of time that parrot imports were allowed into the country. 5000 birds were imported from approved countries during this window before the conditions were suspended due to disease concerns.
*this review was commenced in 2016 following ongoing requests from bird owners, hobbyists and zoos to develop a safe importation pathway. Interesting quote from webinar: “So I should say that whilst zoos and aviary places will be eligible, the original commencement of the review was based around pet birds. The most common thing being pet birds stuck overseas that people had taken with them or that they had acquired overseas, because a lot of these species are very long lived.” They also noted that this time round there is improved availability of scientific information about the key diseases and laboratory tests (e.g. collaboration with the Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness).
*they have created a distinction between household pets and aviary birds (zoos, wildlife parks and hobbyists) due to differing levels of biosecurity risk. Household birds were identified as having a different risk profile (living indoors, less contact with other birds) which will lead to the proposal of less restrictive containment measures than for the aviary birds.
*the import process would involve applying for an import permit (which is subject to change in regards to individual circumstances), a 35-day pre-export quarantine period under the supervision of an official vet including a series of tests/vet exam, travel to airport with set cage and cleaning requirements, travel to the quarantine station in Melbourne (Mickleham Quarantine Facility) for a 15-day quarantine and finally, release out of quarantine. The aviary birds would enter a higher level of quarantine containment than the household birds. For an aviary consignment the whole room would need to be hired out. The capacity of the quarantine room is enough room to hold around 500 small parrots (budgies) or approximately 40 large parrots (macaws). A postscript note was that there are actually two rooms that could be used for aviary birds: “there are two BC3 rooms – that could be used for aviary bird cohorts.”
*there has also been great interest to import new species. This is a whole other process involving amending the live import list. When the parrot IRA is completed the department expects a sizeable number of applications to be lodged to add species to the import list.
*the parrot IRA will be finalised sometime this year in 2021 [mentioned 13:40 in the webinar] when they are satisfied they can manage the risks.
A closing remark by one of the individuals working on the parrot IRA [mentioned at 1:00:06] : “But, if the draft is an indication of where we're going, I do expect imports can be facilitated with appropriate biosecurity measures.”
Relevant website (with webinar with a Q/A session): Psittacine birds (household pets and aviary) - Department of Agriculture
Transcript of webinar: https://www.agriculture.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/psittacine-birds-webinar-transcript.pdf
