While Europe is racing to build up its defences against a possible bird flu epidemic brought in by migrating wildfowl and other wild birds, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) feels that instead of naturally migrating birds, avian flu might be brought on to the continent through the trade in caught wild birds.

It is already urging the government to ban the trade in pet birds.
A special investigation for the BBC News also confirmed this fear of RSPB and other experts when it found that there was a huge market for captured wild birds in the dozens of illegal pet fairs that take place across Britain every weekend. Bird fanciers meet in scout huts and school halls across the UK to buy and sell pet birds.
 

Disgusting & Dangerous Markets
Neil Forbes, one of the UK's leading bird vets opined that these places were a cauldron of infection. Forbes was unable to understand how public were allowed to walk into such places which were full of birds, many of them carrying infections that were potentially fatal for humans. Forbes was horrified by that thought that on the very next day, the same hall, without any proper cleaning or disinfecting, could be utilized for a Women’s Institute meeting or as a crèche. "The nightmare scenario is you could import a bird from the Far East that carries this virus, bring it into an auction hall and spread it to a number of others," he added. The infected birds could then be distributed across the UK and the end result would be the slaughtering of every chicken in the UK.
Despite this, the danger of humans falling prey to the bird flu would remain very real and the chances of human fatalities could never be ignored. Though at present, the virus is not thought to be able to jump from human to human. What scares experts most is the possibility that it could mutate and develop this ability - possibly sparking a pandemic to rival the killer global flu outbreaks of the last century.
 

Bigger threat
Julian Hughes, the RSPB's Head of Species Conservation, told media that the RSPB thinks that the risk of avian influenza being brought into the country through bird trade and through these bird fairs was far greater than from migratory water foul coming in or from migration from Siberia.

On the other hand, The Parrot Society, Britain's number one club for bird lovers argues that these events should continue.
 

Birds can be bought cheaply at fairs

Greg Glendell a bird behaviorist and director of the Birds First charity told the BBC that these disgusting events were nothing more than just a car boot sale for birds. He expressed indignation at the fact that if someone was driving around

like this auctioning off cats and dogs, someone or the law would have intervened, but since it was birds, no one was concerned. The law governing bird fairs in Britain is presently a mess. Some, such as the Animal Protection Agency, argue that they are already, essentially, illegal - but the law is rarely enforced. But changes might be at hand since the government is currently drafting a new animal welfare bill that could put an end to these events.