Overseas falconry.

[Weasel]

I am on a few overseas falconry forums and I note quite a few things that have been happening over there that raise concern. Bans seem to happen all the time there for anything that a group dislikes. What I worry about is that falconry will not be far down the line for our friends across the pond.
Do ya'll have any thoughts about their situation?

[Minca]

That it sucks.....
On another board I visit occationally a little argument arose when a gentleman stated that he would rather have no regulations like in the UK than the regs we have here. That didn't go over so well and a very wonderful woman from over there actually left the group because of it. He obviously didn't have his ideals strait. I really no not envy them over there.

[mass]

hi,

yes our government really sucks at the momment and none of us really know where this may lead us.

i must say that many falconers in the uk would embrace a system simular to yours in the states, although we do feel that you are very restricted ( and we cant seem to get around the different laws in different states thing either,,,).... but in my opinion and its only my opinion, our system is way worse than yours....only because non native or non-migratory birds have nothing at all !!!..no licence nothing, any tom,thingy,or harry can go out one sunday afternoon and come home with a raptor its crazy.

its this situation that could lead to the demise of falconry in the uk........and also i think the likes of the bfc and the campaign for falconry sould do summut about it too.
in the uk no one knows how many birds are kept ..who keeps them , and even if they are being kept properly...nothing and thats shocking !!!...

and surley for any organisation that could be a start !!

kev

[Yarak]

It has been my observation that the animal rights groups in the UK are the biggest source of worry. Their are a lot of them they are well funded and organized. They have popular support from many non-hunting civilians. This is the enemy that may spell doom for British falconry.
Yarak

[Weasel]

The way I see it is that each of us, US and UK, each have their ups and downs. We here is the US, as some see it, are over regulated whereas in the UK, they are under regulated. What we need is a healthy balance between the two in my opinion. I often wonder what could be done in the UK to put some sort of requirements on falconers. The biggest problem I see is that for every actual "falconer"(one who flies and hunts their birds) there are 10 that have them as pets. It would be these folks that would resist the need for any regulation more so than the falconers themselves. A regulation on Housing, medical care, basic equipment and age should be a few of the things that would greatly aid in getting things on track in my opinion, but that is all easier said than done huh? The US is in the process of de-regulation at the moment so we are hoping for the regulations to lax up a bit in future as they are choking us with them at the moment.
I am in no way in favor of the regs being taken out all together as I feel there is a need for some standards to this sport as we all know that the moment you give someone the leeway to do something stupid, it won't be long before it happens......Keep the honest people honest with the regulations.
There are many falconers out there who don't want to make it easier for others to get into this sport as they feel that to do so will allow the rif-raf type a chance to screw things up for the rest of us and I can honestly say that I feel the same way about this at times. Eveyone says that the sponsor will stop the bad ones from getting through, but I still see a few that are far less than what I would call a falconer and they are now going to be licensed to sponsor others in this sport.....Where does that take us? Blind leading the blind? If their standards are set low, then the apprentices standards will be set equally low as we tend to parrot fashion much of what our sponsors do......
I personally think that regulation is a neccissary evil and to do away with it would be the start of the end for falconry as we know it today.
Weasel

[wes]

I too have made many visits to the other forums, and seen much the same as weasel so well stated, and agree with his statement on Regs. I'm not trying to insult anyone, One thing I'd also noticed, I've had the impression of many being very clickest across the pond, badgering of others, not as willing to share info and such, although it was only a small percentage of people.
wes