AI Latest
As predicted last week we have now have confirmation that the French Government has lifted the ban on pigeon racing from French mainland with immediate effect. They have agreed that pigeon racing can take place within France with the exception of the south east region of Ain department near Lyon, which is an area called 'les Dombes', where it is very humid, has many marshes and pools and where avian flu was reported on wild birds in a turkey breeding farm a few months ago. Last week I spoke to DEFRA about the probability of the French ban being lifted and was advised that DEFRA were due to initiate a review of the threat assessment. Yesterday (Monday) I emailed and telephoned the review team at DEFRA to confirm the news and formally requested that DEFRA review the situation with a view to British pigeons being able to race from France. I understand that tomorrow (Wednesday) the Animal Diseases Policy Group, a senior policy group, will meet to discuss the threat assessment and I have been invited to contact the policy team in the afternoon to ascertain the outcome. As a precursor to that meeting I have forwarded comments received from organizations with regards to financial restrictions that the racing conditions are making on the finances of these organizations. We still have our meeting with DEFRA scheduled for 23rd May to review the licence conditions but as I stated last week that I would be pushing for Continental racing now that the general situation was changing. In the meantime we are collating applications for race permits and these will be going off to the FCF asap. We have the ferry companies on standby to make short notice bookings but I don’t want to think of any timescale as yet.

Gobsmacked!
With all this happening I have to say that I was rather taken aback by Les Parkinson’s column in the BHW on 12th May. To say that it was less than flattering of my efforts so far would be an understatement so I would just like to put the drivel that was written last week by Parky into some form of context. Firstly he comments on the fact that French game birds are being imported into Britain. Well why not, there is no import ban on any domestic bird from France. Firstly, had Parky researched his claims, then he would realize that import/export is a 2 way action. Just in the same way that some countries have banned the importation of Scottish and East Anglian poultry (or indeed poultry from anywhere in the UK) after the HPAI and LPAI outbreaks in Britain we would ban the import of French poultry or game if there was an outbreak of AI in a specified area in France. This happened last August when a Surrey game fair was infected with Newcastle disease. The poults originated from France and so the usual exclusion zones were placed on both British and French farms, in accordance with the DEFRA contingency plans. And anyway any pheasant infected with AI is hardly likely to be fit enough to be shot in a game drive is it? He also seems to forget that hundreds of British fanciers traveled to Belgium to import racing pigeons from studs and markets earlier this year. Presumably Parky is happy to ban these imports too?

Parky thinks I should be taking the same strong approach that BASC has done and I should be telling DEFRA that we WILL be racing from France. Right. Let’s get back in the real world. For a start the French Government has only just given approval to start racing from there. Secondly, DEFRA will not do anything without a threat assessment. We need to work with DEFRA not rub them up the wrong way. And another thing! Parky also seems to forget that until very, very recently, we have been the only Western European nation to have been able to race at all. That to me has been quite a concession from DEFRA considering the state of affairs in other parts of Europe.

Parky also seems to doubt my determination and infers that a ‘pigeon man’ would do a better job. Well let me remind him of 2 points. I dealt with DEFRA from the outset of AI, when you will recall racing pigeons were classed as poultry and placed in a category 3 High Risk. I fought tooth and nail to get us removed from this category, providing the research from avian veterinary experts, which enabled us to get where we are today, to have shows, sales, gatherings AND racing. Not someone from BASC but someone from the Royal Pigeon Racing Association. I have been politely reprimanded by the Chief Vet for suggesting that pigeon fanciers were well down the pecking order of DEFRA’s priorities. ‘Definitely not true’ she said, so that gives me confidence that DEFRA will make the right decision. Secondly, Parky seems to forget my tenacity that helped him out of a spot with a spiteful, so-called pigeon fancier just a couple of years ago. Had I not been tenacious I would have gone home at 5 o’clock that Friday evening. I didn’t, I was in the office till 7pm sorting out his problem.

My staff and I have put an inordinate amount of time so far this year to try to keep everyone on an even keel, to feed them the most up to date information and keep DEFRA and land owners informed of what is happening. And as and when we are allowed back to France then we will have to continue the massive workload because ferries and permits don’t get booked by themselves, race programmes will need to be altered affecting changes to UK land owners’ bookings. I am not a fancier and I make no bones about that, but don’t let anyone tell me that I am not conscientious and don’t do my best for the fancy. I know how important continental racing is; you don’t have to be a pigeon man to know that. But we need to achieve this by sensibly working with DEFRA. Let’s not forget what the pigeon expert Dr Pascal Lanneau said in the recent AI research document. “Pigeons don’t play a very important role in the transmission of AI but not important doesn’t mean they don’t play a role at all.”. That is what DEFRA has to consider. I will continue to put our case most strongly, and of that you need have no doubt.

Peter Bryant
General Manager