putting wild birds in cages seems cruel to me. is it legal?
The following is meant to be an explanation and perhaps mitigation, but not justification.
For hundreds of years, Gypsies have been catching and caging wild birds. It’s a traditional practice and a skill that has been passed down from generation to generation. This doesn’t mean that all Gypsies can do it, or even want to. My dad did it, but his father did not. I did it, but my brothers did not.
The point is, it was something that had always happened, it was part of out lives. We grew up with it and, as is often the case in that situation, we didn’t stop to question it.
In 1954, the protection of birds act, along with various other legislation, made it illegal (with certain exceptions) to
· Intentionally kill, injure or take any wild bird
· Intentionally take, damage or destroy the nest of any wild bird whilst it is in use or being built
· Intentionally take or destroy the egg of any wild bird
· Have in one's possession or control any wild bird, dead or alive, or any part of a wild bird, which has been taken in contravention of the Act or the Protection of Birds Act 1954
· Have in one's possession or control any egg or part of an egg which has been taken in contravention of the Protection of Birds Act 1954.
At that time, we were for the most part unaware of the new legislation, and, perhaps of more relevance, we were Gypsies, and according to the powers that be, everything we did was illegal. We couldn’t rely on the authorities to tell us right from wrong. If we were to stop doing traditional things just because someone told us it was illegal, we would very quickly have ceased to exist.
From a personal point of view, bird catching, like hunting, only served to increase my love and respect for nature. To be successful I had to learn about the wildlife, it’s habits and it’s habitat. I had to understand their ways, their needs and their instincts. As came understanding, so came admiration.
The animals I killed and ate back then had an immeasurably better life and death than the intensively farmed and slaughtered, cellophane wrapped supermarket shelf ones that I eat today.
If you catch and cage a wild bird in the summer, it will almost certainly die because it won’t eat. I only ever caught birds in the winter when finding enough to eat is a major battle for them and a large percentage starve to death in the wild anyway. Birds caught in winter are eating within the hour and if released after a couple of days will often try to get back into the cage.
I don’t hunt these days, and I have come to the conclusion that on balance, I would rather see a wild goldfinch sitting on the head of a thistle than have it in a cage.
I wouldn’t change anything though. Poachers make the best gamekeepers.
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