| Peter,
You obviously don't live within the confines of the United States.
You can only possess raptors if you hold a permit from the United
States Government. It takes at least two years of appreticeship
with a licenced rehabilitator before you can own any type of Raptor.
At that point you can only possess that which you are qualified to
keep. The other qualifier is that the bird must not be able to be
released back into the wild. For instance if a bird were hit by a
car or shot and the damage was bad enough where the bird would be at
a disadvantage or not fully functional.
If you do reside within the United States, you may want to reconsider
what you are about to do. There are stiff penalties for unauthorized
possession of Raptors. You may also want to consider passing the
information on this person to the authorities.
You should contact your local government in the country where you
reside to be sure that you are operating within the law anyway.
My advice would be to seek a seasoned professional and work with them
before you jump into this. These birds are very dangerous and require
quite a bit of time to keep them properly. If you need the name of a
rahabilitator within the United States please write me and I will
assist you.
Regards,
Jim Buccieri
|
| Jim,
Thanks very much for the reply and advise.
Although I live outside the states I live in a far tighter regulated
country, the Netherlands. I am familiar with the laws and regulations
and will only do things official and yes, I will be granted the
neccessary permits.
Also I will not hunt with the birds and although I have falconry
experience, will not need any license in this area.
Mind you, I will keep them with the intention to breed with them only!
As I will keep non-endemic, threatened species setting them free locally is
quite out of the question.
Yes, I know very well what I am undertaking and what all the
consequences are. The point is that even the national Zoo's have
preciously little experience with breeding raptors. My present sources
of info are almost exclusively British and I'd like some more from
others to broaden my view and possibly add knowledge.
Most raptors are NOT dangerous at all! There are limits to what you can
do with them, they will never be "pets". As wild animals however they are
a whole lot safer then most exotics which are not pets either.
Some species need absolute privecy, but others will benefit from
handling and training to bring them into breeding condition. So I will
handle and train some but never ever will I look upon the as pets.
Peter
|
| Almost a year has passed and boy, did the red tape present some
obstacles! I could easily fill a very entertaining book about this
proces...but to keep it short: I ended up with 2-1 captive bred
African Spotted Eagle Owls with all the permits.
Much to my surprise I found out during the procees that I am the only
private person to have been granted permission in this country!
Now get this, because of the fact that I have these permits I can now
legally obtain nearly every raptor being bred in captivity. No, I am
not contemplating even the thought because it is way out of my
interest, but I have been offered American Bald Eagle chicks! Rather a
scary thought realy...
Peter
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