New times new rules...

UPDATE: Jordbruksverket has taken back the iniative due to a lot of complaints and feedback from the clubs and associations. A new initiative will be created in a co-operation with the before mentioned.

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The Swedish Jordbruksverket are planning to update the law what comes to keeping exotic animals, such as birds and the impact on us pet owners and breeders will be huge.. if it comes into force as it is planned. People and pet associations have less than a month to send their "points of view" about the new iniative.

What I know by now is that if this legislative initiave goes through, by the year 2028 my 15 birds at the moment for example are to have a 15 square meter room in order to work as a law abiding accomodation. Not just to fly about, but actually to have as their cage. Two budgies in other hand need a 4m2 housing, a size of a small room, that is.

And yes, I am up to making everything as good as I possibly can for my birds and back in the days when I gave up keeping budgies, one reason was my constant ponderings of whether I was doing right by the birds - whether anyone is, by keeping birds as pets. I couldn't always afford a room for my birds only, so there were long whiles my birds were kept in their cages only and in my point of view, and also by this initiatives point of view too, the bird needs plenty of space all the time, they need to get to fly anytime they want to.

There has been discussion before, in Finland at least, to completely shut down the whole exotic animals as pets business, so that it simply will be made illegal to own anything else basically than a dog or a cat. I don't know where do they stand in Finland what comes to that discussion atm but that it has been started and I don't think it will ever completely go away...

I myself have forgotten a little to think about it. I don't know if I can keep my birds after 2028. And if I can, I don't think I will be breeding anymore. Because for a breeding couple you would also need a 2x2x2m cage. And I like to breed in pairs. So I would need 2 cages of that size. And I also like to have my birds close by. Not closed up in a room, especially when they're breeding. But it's true that I don't feel good keeping them cramped up in breeding cages sized 80x70x40, even though they are completely legal, atm. It feels especially bad with those individuals who usually fly plenty and are the first ones in the morning to fly out to strech their wings. I have sometimes been keeping the breedingcages also open, but what they do then is they go rampaging on the other couples cages. Or they don't rampage really. But anything is too much when all they want is peace.

But we'll see. There's still time, people will react, are obviously reacting already and they will act on this, private owners and breeders as well as associations. I myself am planning on not getting any more birds at least for now, the room I have atm is 25m2 and the birds have an open cage by daytime, just not when we're on a holiday. But that's really not the problem here. The problem will be the breeding cages - if I am planning to breed anymore after that. I have been planning on building a 4m2 cage for my flock, but maybe instead it will be a breedingcage...

So I don't know, this initiative is not bad. But does it kill the good breeders from breeding? Or where do you buy your pets with these rules? Who can breed? You can breed elsewhere in Europe and then the bird owners I suppose, will just go and get their birds elsewhere, like Denmark. A petstore must also abide to these new laws and it might not be any good business after that. (I heard that for one rabbit you need 10m2... I would love to have a rabbit with 10m2 to dig in and to jump about! What a happy rabbit that must be! A petstore must love that too.)

I know I haven't been completely joking when I've told my kids that they get to tell their grandkids that "You know, back in the days, you could have birds as pets and that your greatgrandmother was a budgie breeder and we sometimes had 20 budgies flying around in our house, free".

Times are achanging.