Quote Originally Posted by rkumetz View Post
The state of VT jerks us around on this and it is absurd. They require a HC and $100 import permit for a VT falconer to bring in a bird even if it was
trapped 50' from the VT border. There is no permit needed for domestic animals or pets ranging from a hamster to a draft horse and an out of state falconer can bring a bird here and stay indefinitely without a a health certificate or import permit.

Why? Who knows. We have no poultry industry to speak of and judging by the birds we can trap legally there are very few birds of prey here in the first place to infect with anything.

And what of those pigeon racers? They transport their birds all over and release them sans permits.

I would not be as bitter about this if everyone who brought ANY animal into the state needed a permit and HC but falconers are being singled out.

OK enough ranting. This thread seems to have morphed from a meet threa to health certificates but I needed to vent.
The Health Cert requirements are driven by the USDA, and are tied to concerns for the domestic livestock industry being protected.

The real base concerns that the USDA has are very valid and real. However - please be prepared for a shock - once a large government beuaracracy took this real concern and implemented rules to protect against it things got stupid, silly and onerous. Brief pause for recovery from that shock....

The USDA rules are contradictory and complex about interstate travel of animals. They mandate that each state implement requirements of their own to suit the federal standards (similar to how falconry is handled). And each state takes the USDA lunacy, puts their own flavor on it, and viola! We have our little mess.

The USDA rules exempt dogs and cats explicitly unless they are produced in large commercial breeding operations, but the language is confusing. The USDA rules are supposed to apply to all other live animals crossing state lines, and I believe definitely including pigeons.

In times of actual emergency, like a bird flu or Newcastle break out, the USDA already has all the legal tools they need to lock things down and deal with problem. The paperwork need to move hawks and parrots and pigeons around is just silly and onerous, and often ignored anyway.

What is really needed to fix this is for NAFA and the AFC to try talking some common sense to the USDA and see if we can get included in the excemption. Sadly, the USDA seems to be in a mood to crack down more, not less. But that is where we really need to fight this lunacy. There are other groups who can join us - others who have animals that should be excempt but aren't.