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External sources (not reviewed)

This will include pigeons, quails, ostriches and their eggs, in which avian influenza virus and other egg-related diseases might also be found.

The term “poultry” is further defined to mean chickens, ducks, geese, pigeons and quails.

After careful deliberation, the Administration decided that DAFC may, issue Exhibition Licenses under Cap. 139F to cover racing pigeon activities.

In response to Legal Service Division’s enquiries, the Administration has explained the legal basis for granting an exhibition licence to racing pigeons keepers, its policy of granting an exhibition licence to racing pigeons keepers who wish to keep more than 20 racing pigeons, its policy of granting an exemption from holding a licence under section 9 of the Public Health (Animals and Birds) (Licensing of Livestock Keeping) Regulation (Cap. 139 sub. leg. L) and the reasons for not considering exhibitions of racing pigeons to be “entertainment” within the meaning of the term in the Places of Public Entertainment Ordinance (Cap. 172).

At the subcommittee formed to scrutinise the subsidiary legislation to ban backyard poultry keeping, the Administration has agreed to consider on a case-by-case basis whether to issue “animal/birds exhibition licence” to owners who wish to keep racing pigeons.

[...] space amongst azaleas, magnolia and [...]

To address the concern about the high fee charged for the licence, the Administration would amend the Public Health (Animals and Birds) (Exhibitions) Regulations to stipulate a separate licence fee for persons who kept a small number (i.e. 20 or less) of racing pigeons.

For pigeon farms, since these biosecurity facilities are of relatively smaller scale, we propose to set the lump sum payment at a flat rate of $150,000 per pigeon farm.

Would you explain, from a legal perspective, as to how you treat racing pigeon activity as a form of exhibition so as to be within the scope of the Principal Regulations?

Having regard to overseas experiences and our veterinary assessment that the risk of an avian influenza outbreak in pigeon is low, the Administration agreed to continue to allow the keeping and exhibiting of racing pigeons under a licence issued under the Regulations, provided that the applicant is able to satisfy all relevant statutory requirements under the Regulations.

(a) whether it has studied the current breeding situation of wild birds such as crows and pigeons in the territory, as well as the impact of these wild birds on environmental hygiene; and (b) of the measures to reduce the nuisances caused by wild birds to the public?

In the City of Los Angeles USA, pigeon owners must obtain a permit for keeping pigeons and the fee is USD$ 50 (HKD $390).

Mr LI added that to enable persons who wished to continue to keep a small number of poultry (including racing pigeons) as pets, the Administration had agreed to amend the Notice and the Amendment Regulation to empower the Director of Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation to grant exemption permit in respect of the keeping of specified birds.

(a) As at June 2008, there are 52 poultry farmers (including 50 chicken farmers and two pigeon farmers), 71 wholesalers, 469 retailers and some 250 transporters in the live poultry trade of Hong Kong.

In the City of Merritt, Canada, pigeon owners must also obtain a permit for keeping pigeons and the permit fee is CAD$ 10 (HKD $70).

When we sounded out the racing pigeon keepers on the proposed licensing arrangement and its fee levels, the majority of them agreed to pay a fee for a licence to keep their birds, although some expressed that the licence fees should be lowered.

There are many benefits from investing in green space; much of which can only happen through creating and maintaining parks in cities.

As regards the environmental hygiene nuisances caused by feral pigeons, the problem is mainly droppings and it is more significant in locations which are popular spots of feeding by members of the public.

To strengthen the prevention and control against the outbreak of avian flu, FEHD and the State General Administration of the People's Republic of China for Quality Supervision and Inspection and Quarantine have agreed that with effect from 15 January 2004, all live poultry (except pigeons and waterfowls) must be vaccinated against H5 avian flu with deactivated vaccine authorized for production and use by the State Ministry of Agriculture before importing to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

It was hard to imagine that this very space was once filled with passionate citizens calling for a seemingly revolutionary change in the current world of increasing privatization and decreasing levels of civic engagement and public discourse.

Despite studies on pigeons, no traces of germs have been found on feral pigeons.

We believe that our prevailing regulatory regime can strike a balance between the need to protect public health and environmental hygiene, as well as to accommodate the need of pigeon racing activities in Hong Kong as far as possible.

By the deadline of application for the scheme on 24 September 2008, 29 applications were received from farmers (including 27 chicken and two pigeon farmers, representing about 56% of the total number of farmers), 50 applications from wholesalers (representing about 70% of the total number of wholesalers), 333 applications from retailers (representing about 72% of the total number of retailers), 199 applications from transporters (representing about 80% cent of the total number of transporters) and 835 applications from affected local workers.