| NFSS Members,
The purpose of this survey is to gather data to determine if
regulation under the Animal Welfare Act (AWA) will severely harm the bird industry as a whole and to determine the
potential financial impact AWA regulations would have on individual bird facilities. This data will be important to
support our requests for exemptions from regulation in order to prevent adverse consequences of AWA regulation.
All questions are optional, but the more complete each survey is, the more valuable the data will be. Any information
received by PIJAC is confidential and only aggregate information will be used. PIJAC's Board of Directors or
members are NOT allowed to see raw data in surveys. This is a long standing PIJAC policy of more than 30 years.
Questions 1-8 of the survey are intended to establish the
value of the bird industry as a whole. Questions 9-32 are intended to gather data on the potential impacts of AWA
regulation on individual facilities. There might be those who will terminate their businesses rather than face regulation.
This needs to be documented. Among the things that need to be considered by the respondents are any negative impacts that
regulation might have and whether those negative impacts will cause the loss or the discontinuance of business. The
following are some key areas of concern:
1. The standard requirement concerning the necessity of a
complete paper trail on every bird and the office space required to make that documentation available for inspection,
will in some cases, be sufficient to cause some to cease their business due to the inability to invest the time or incur the
expense of a professional secretary.
2. Another important consideration is whether someone will be
constantly available throughout the year to allow entry to USDA inspectors so they can inspect the facility, the animals
in that facility and gain entry into the office area to check paperwork, when their unannounced inspections are made during
normal business hours (M-F 9AM-5PM). Those that do not maintain a constant staff person on the premises, with that
capability, may need to hire someone.
3. Those that maintain species that are either shy or
aggressive should consider losses due to egg breakage and or mate aggression and the economic impact of this.
4. Those that have cage wire that shows surface rust or those
cages that do not meet the size or design standards that are adopted, will be required to replace such cages.
5. The USDA has historically required that all enclosure
materials be "impervious to moisture". Thus, we need to
document that wooden nest boxes, perches and other items are acceptable and that replacing such items with other materials
that are not impervious to moisture is unnecessary and cost prohibitive.
6. The ability to transfer ownership or possession of unweaned
birds is a vital and successful part of aviculture. Data is needed on the numbers of unweaned birds in the trade as well
as data on the success rate of this activity. Prohibiting the shipping and transfer of unweaned birds is a target goal of
certain anti-avicultural organizations.
Completed survey forms can be mailed to:
PIJAC Bird Breeder Survey, Suite 400; 1220 19th Street, NW; Washington, DC 20036
Or emailed to: mmeyers@pijac.org (Subject: PIJAC Bird Breeder Survey)
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CONFIDENTIAL
PIJAC AVIAN BREEDER INFORMATION SURVEY
NAME:
STREET ADDRESS:
STATE:
ZIP:
TELEPHONE:
FAX:
EMAIL:
1) TOTAL NUMBER OF BIRDS IN FACILITY: _______________
2) TOTAL NUMBER OF SPECIES: _______________
(OR, list totals for each species in your collection.)
3) DO YOU SELL ONLY RETAIL TO THE PUBLIC? (YOU NEVER
WHOLESALE) YES / NO
4) TOTAL NUMBER OF BIRDS SOLD ANNUALLY: _______________
5) GROSS ANNUAL SALES FROM BIRDS?
$ _______________
6) TOTAL AMOUNT SPENT ON EMPLOYEES/FEED/SUPPLIES?
$_______________
7) I HAVE BEEN BREEDING BIRDS FOR _______________ YEARS.
8) THERE ARE _______________ PEOPLE WHO WORK IN MY BUSINESS.
· QUESTIONS 9-14 ARE FOR INDOOR FACILITIES
9) THE SIZE OF MY BIRD BUILDING(S) IS (ARE)
_______________ X_______________ X _______________
10) BUILDING INTERIOR MATERIAL (i.e.: wood, drywall, plaster,
metal, block, concrete, wire, etc.)
11) BUILDING EXTERIOR MATERIAL (i.e.: wood, metal, block,
concrete, wire, etc)
12) DO YOU USE A VENTILATION SYSTEM? (if yes, describe)
13) DO YOU USE A HEATING SYSTEM? (if yes, describe)
14) DO YOU USE A LIGHTING SYSTEM? (if yes, describe)
· QUESTIONS 15 THROUGH 17 ARE FOR OUTDOOR FACILITIES
15) THE ROUGH SIZE OF MY BREEDING AREA IS
_______________ X_______________ X _______________
16) SHELTER MATERIAL IS (i.e.: wood, metal, block, concrete,
wire, etc) :
17) FLOORS OF ENCLOSURES ARE (i.e.: wood, earth, wire
concrete, etc.):
18) BREEDING CAGE SIZE FOR EACH BREEDING PAIR IS
_______________ X_______________ X _______________
19) THE CAGES ARE MADE OF (wood, metal, block, concrete, wire,
etc)
_______________
20) COST TO PURCHASE OR CONSTRUCT A CAGE?
$ _______________
21) NEST BOXES ARE MADE OF (wood, metal, block, concrete,
plastic, wire, etc)
22) HOW MANY NEST BOXES ARE IN YOUR FACILITY?
_______________
23) COST TO PURCHASE OR CONSTRUCT A NEST BOX
$_______________
24) FEEDING SCHEDULE
25) WATERING SCHEDULE
26) CLEANING AND SANITIZING SCHEDULE
27) WHAT IS THE MINIMUM AGE OF THE BIRDS YOU SELL?
_______________
28) DO YOU SELL OR TRANSFER OUT OF YOUR FACILITY ANY UNWEANED
BIRDS? YES/NO
29) TOTAL NUMBER OF UNWEANED BIRDS SOLD OR TRANSFERRED
_______________
30) PERCENTAGE OF UNWEANED BIRDS THAT DIED AS A RESULT OF
BEING SOLD OR TRANSFERRED _______________%
31) IF YOU HAD TO REPLACE YOUR CAGES AND EQUIPMENT TO COMPLY
WITH USDA STANDARDS SUCH AS CAGE SIZE OR CAGE DESIGN, WOULD
YOU BE ABLE TO STAY IN BUSINESS?: YES/NO
32) ESTIMATE HOW MUCH IT WOULD COST TO REPLACE ALL YOUR CAGES
AND EQUIPMENT:
$_______________
33) IF UNANNOUNCED USDA INSPECTIONS OCCURRED, WOULD YOU BE
LIKELY TO LOSE EGGS, CHICKS OR ADULT BIRDS AS A RESULT OF THE
DISTURBANCE?: YES/NO
34) ESTIMATE THE POTENTIAL FINANCIAL LOSSES UNANNOUNCED
INSPECTIONS COULD CAUSE: $ _______________
35) IF YOUR VETERINARIAN MUST INSPECT YOUR FACILITY AT LEAST
ONCE A YEAR TO COMPLY WITH ANIMAL WELFARE ACT REQUIREMENTS,
WHAT WOULD BE THE ESTIMATED COST? $ _______________
36) COMMENTS:
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