The FL wildlife won't come into your home to take count of your birds or even what species you have. They want the information in case of an avian outbreak. It is for notifying you or for tracking the spread of illness. Last noticed I received from them was some 5 years ago when the office sent me a caution on buying any birds that would be shipped from southern California due to an outbreak of NewCastles disease.
They want to know that people will be responsible for their animals in case of catastrophy. When hurricane Andrew hit Homestead, FL
it destroyed a very large reptile facility that swept thousands of boas into the everglades... they now have a serious snake problem in the swamps and neighborhoods. That was a real wake up call for Florida. They aren't too concerned with the birds as they won't likely survive the storm to become a problem to the indigenous birds.
At the bird fairs in Tallahassee and Pensacola the fish and wildlife officers were checking all credentials... needless to say many were given citations for improper or no paperwork. Some were even shut down and asked to leave... I thought one vendor was going to even have his birds confiscated but a friend/vendor came over and claimed they were his birds...NOT.... but they let that man be responsible for the removal of them from the fair. The original vendor was made to leave with many citations and told sternly not to come back...
The fair down in Orlando, well, I have never seen the wildlife inspections nor any wildlife officer ever
![Confused :?](./images/smilies/icon_confused.gif)
...... I have seen the IRS officers making sure the people have their tax ID numbers and are paying their taxes for the birds they sell...... but no inspectors for the animals well being.
![Sad :(](./images/smilies/2.gif)
There are Florida laws as to how many birds can be housed within a cage (so many birds per square inch).... at the Orlando show I would say 90 out of 100 vendors violate this law. They pack the finches in the sell cages like sardines
![Sad :(](./images/smilies/2.gif)
I wish they would bust a few of those broker/breeder vendors down there at this fair and or citation Charles Tillman since he allows vendors to not recognize the laws.
![Straight face :|](./images/smilies/22.gif)
Pocket the money and look the oher way. One regul;ar vendor that you know and even recommended to me was one of the worst I have ever seen...on every trip I go down... I have counted 48 finches in one 20 inch cage
Here are a couple of past posts of some of his cages at the Orlando fair... and this was late in the day after many had been sold and removed from the cages
![Shocked :shock:](./images/smilies/icon_eek.gif)
This is just like a mini bird mill to me
![Sad :(](./images/smilies/2.gif)
But yet ... hobbiest still buy and support these bird sardine packing jerks. It all starts with each and every hobbiest... yep, the man in the mirror thing
http://finchforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=1 ... r+pictures
http://finchforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=1 ... r+pictures
People will mistreat animals for profit. And as far as the areas wildlife enforcers.....It is like police forces, some areas have better officers than other areas. Some do their jobs while others hang out and eat donuts
I am sure it is the same with the mills. I am also sure most of the mills operate in slack policed areas of the country or the mills have them look the other way with payouts... I mean contributions.
The reason I started this post was because I was hoping to at least get the finch hobbiest on this forum to stop and consider what they are buying and above all... who they are supporting when they go shopping for their finches. Many are unknowingly supporting bird mills and mass importers.... It is almost impossible to not get finch blood on your hands when dealing with brokers, pet stores, breeders, etc.... but we can at least do our educated best
![Big Grin :D](./images/smilies/4.gif)