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Challenges of animal
protection and pigeon health during and after the VDT meeting in
Rostock:
The adoption of the amendment
to the Animal Protection Act and possible consequences for the
breeding of fancy pigeons and the exhibition system still seem to be
a long way off for pigeon breeders. This can explain why the VDT
meeting in Rostock, which focused on animal welfare in addition to
current challenges for the management of pigeon health, took place
on a relatively small scale.
12. VDT-Meeting 30. August – 1.
September 2024 at Rostock
The lecture of DR. ELISABETH
PEUS, MODERN MANAGEMENT OF PIGEON HEALTH was preceded by the motto:
Prevention is better than cure. Paramyxovirosis (PMV) and
differentiation from ND, vaccinations against PMV, rotaviruses and
salmonella, other vaccines and a list of disinfectants are
presented. The demands on breeders are not decreasing! Dealing with
found birds is also discussed.
DR. PETER HINSBERGER, animal
protection official adviser in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania,
qualified veterinarian. The AMENDMENT OF THE ANIMAL PROTECTION ACT
is discussed from the authorities' perspective. It may be passed at
the end of the year. Highlighted 1. the ban on breeding animals with
torture breeding characteristics and 2. the exhibition and
advertising ban for animals with torture breeding characteristics
according to § 11b TierSchG. The report on the interpretation of
November 3, 1999 is viewed as outdated in many aspects and in urgent
need of updating. Help seems to be expected from the QUEN (Qualzucht-Evidenz-Network
gGmbH) database, which has been in operation since 2021: “The
enforcement of the existing ban on torture breeding for the
responsible authorities at the state level has so far been very
complex and time-consuming.” The extent to which the updates and
additions of the private initiative QUEN will stand up to critical
scrutiny, whether outsiders can view them, and whether objections to
entries are possible seems to be an open question. The presentation
gives the impression that there is a need for such information to
back one's own decisions.
DR. MARTIN LINDE presents the
topic of 'Breeding Fancy
PIGEONS AND ANIMAL WELFARE' under the motto 'Paths into the future'.
The focus is on the ban on the exhibition, advertising and trade of
animals with torture breeding characteristics. Not all of the
points in the list of symptoms for pain, suffering and damage listed
in § 11b(1a) are relevant for pigeons. At some points it becomes
clear what in pigeon breeding has already been seen as a violation
of the Animal Welfare Act. Movement anomalies, caused by heavy
feathering on the feet, skeletal anomalies, lack of visibility, and
posture are frequently mentioned points.
Heavy feathering on the
feet: North Caucasian Colour-Tail (photo Sell)
Concretely shown through
practical examples from JÜRGEN WEICHOLD in the co-presentation. In
conclusion, it is important to counteract over-typing and to
critically examine existing breed characteristics. Breed
characteristics would also have to be bred back if it is concluded
that they are incompatible with the Animal Welfare Act. There is
also a call for greater use of existing expert knowledge in the
fancy of poultry breeding. You don't have to leave the
interpretation sovereignty to platforms like QUEN alone. The
breeding bans also discussed by DR. HINSBERGER are not commented on.
They apply if, in the case of breeding, breeding findings lead to
the expectation that as a result of breeding, among other things,
body parts or organs for hereditary reasons are missing or
unsuitable for species-appropriate use or have been transformed and
this causes pain, suffering or damage to the offspring, hereditary
behavioral disorders associated with suffering occur...
The 1999 report mentioned the
problems with some of the offspring when two carriers of the Stipper
gene (still called the Almond gene) and the Dominant Opal gene are
mated with each other. This leads to the requirement to refrain from
such a pairing of two trait carriers. Recommended are the pairings
shown in the anthology by Erich Müller (2000) and illustrated in the
picture using the example of a light blue (dominant opal) with a
blue bar (non-trait carrier) and a Danish Yellow Stipper with a
Yellow-Agate (non-trait carrier).
Source: Erich Müller (ed.),
Alles über Rassetauben Band 1 (All On Fancy Breeds Vol. 1),
Reutlingen 2000, photos: Sell from own breeding.
This is captured in the
amendment in § 11b (1 (1c)). However, it is worded meaninglessly
there: “Breeding for the purpose of eliminating hereditary disorders
or changes associated with pain, suffering or damage within the
meaning of paragraph 1 may be carried out with the presentation of a
suitable breeding concept, which must be presented to the authority
by the breeder upon request.” Meaningless, because the phenomena are
not eliminated, the emergence is eliminated through the breeding
concept. The extent to which the formulation is interpreted in the
interests of breeders remains questionable.
Animal health and animal
welfare overlay the informative contribution by JÜRGEN VEDDER,
MIFUMA, on innovative feeding management. This also includes our own
contribution to the MECKLENBURGAN and POMMERANIAN PIGEON BREEDS. In
addition to the breed portraits, the importance of documenting the
breed characteristics in order to avoid unauthorized type changes
through crossbreeding and for the purpose of re-breeding after
temporary disappearance was also discussed. But how can you avoid
'overtyping' if the type is not recorded according to objective
criteria in Standard descriptions or elsewhere!
A constant topic for the breeds
mentioned is the question of the recognition of intermediate colors
(not yet authorized color classes that appear according to genetic
laws after mating authorized color classes with each other), which
accounts for around half of the work of the Federal Breeding
Committee in the new breeding procedures. Unnecessary, because the
hereditary factors present in the breed are just combined
differently and fundamental changes in the breed type are not to be
expected. For rare breeds, automatic approval would increase the
breeding base and generally make it easier to 'play' with coloring.
Playing with colors: Revival
of colour varieties by recombination of hereditary factors present
in the breed (from the conference paper)
Perhaps also an outlet against
the urge to overtype in highly developed breeds. All that would be
necessary is to go back to the first Standard descriptions. In
Schachtzabel (1910) and partly in 1951, for most breeds only the
most common colors are enumerated, followed by the term 'and
others'. One sentence in the AAB (general rules for exhibitions) and
in the preface to the book of standards would be enough to solve the
problem. The expert knowledge that DR. LINDE assumed in the fancy
was at least not brought to bear on the question of color in the
past. It may be present among experts, but not among
decision-makers.
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