A number of members asked us about an email they have received recently from Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA).
Past member of the BWA, Jason Finney, works for the GB Non-Native Species Secretariat and is in the second year of a scoping exercise looking at a wide range of sectors to assess the risk of non-native species escaping and becoming established. Because of his experience of waterfowl, Jason has the responsibility to reach out to the waterfowl community to gather information that would help to assess and reduce the risk of escape and establishment.
Contact details came from the internet to collate the contact details of individuals and businesses and a number were randomly selected. Some are being contacted, requesting a visit to see the collection and to ask a number of questions covering areas such as species and numbers of birds, breeding, housing, advice given to buyers, and whether there are any plans in place to re-capture escapees. Some of the people randomly selected might be members of the BWA – so you might be hearing from Jason soon!
The BWA welcomes the opportunity to be involved in this dialogue, and from the outset we'd like to reassure you that contact details did NOT come from the BWA or the GB Poultry Register.
