Last year, foundation Wings of Change, collected about 40 birds of prey that were kept in captivity. Often it turned out that many of the owners did not have the correct papers or buyers misjudged the maintenance of the bird. As a result, the animals were eventually forced to end up at the shelter.
The foundation is located in Andijk and combines the shelter of birds of prey with the care of vulnerable target groups. In addition to the wildlife shelter, Wings Of Change also works hard for birds of prey that were born in captivity, where the owner wants to part with the animal.
“I sometimes call them ‘the Harry Potter victims'”, says Léon Arends jokingly. The bird lover is co-owner of the foundation and often sees that buyers underestimate it. “In the film, of course, Harry Potter’s owl delivers the mail, but in real life, of course, that’s not the case.”
“We mainly get a lot of owls because of this,” Arends continues. “It just shows that people have not thought at all about the time and energy you have to put in, how big the loft should be and what kind of food they need.”
trade
From buzzards to eagle owls, it’s very easy to buy a bird of prey on websites like Marktplaats. “But the question remains whether the seller has the correct papers,” says Arends. “And because there isn’t enough capacity to monitor sellers, we have no idea how big this illegal market is.”
Arends therefore continues to insist that both the buyer and seller must continue to think carefully.
Regulations
Keeping and trading birds of prey is legal in the Netherlands, provided the animals have been bred in captivity and meet the requirements of the legislation. The laws and regulations are therefore clear to Arends, but despite this there is still a large gray area.
“For example, there is no registration obligation,” says Arends. And how do you show whether a bird has been bred in captivity? But the bird of prey enthusiast has a solution for that. “When the chick is born, you actually have to put on a foot ring, because that is only possible if it is a chick. This makes it easy to recognize that a young has been in captivity from birth.”