# Travelling overseas with Pigeon?



## Narsilion (Nov 21, 2011)

Hi everyone,

Recently I rescued a wood pigeon who was being mauled by crows and lost most of his flight feathers in the process. It has been a few weeks now and he seems to be doing okay, regrowing some feathers since.

I had full intention of releasing him once he was capable of flying again, but one of his wing injuries seem to be inhibiting from regrowing the primary feathers properly, so I am worried he will never fly normally ever again - I would not worry about keeping him indefinitely except for one problem; I am moving back to Canada from the UK next year, and under the "Pets" section of shipping and traveling with animals in the government website, it states that pigeons and doves are not considered "pet bird" species. Does this mean I cannot take him back with me at all? Or am I missing part of the information where he applies?

here is the gov site I was researching, if it helps: http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/anima/heasan/pol/ie-2011-8e.shtml


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## Miss-Sassypants (Sep 25, 2010)

I wish I can help you! But I have no clue about the laws of Canada or UK. Good luck though, hope you found a way to solve this problem. And thank you for caring for the little fella. Take care!


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## Lefty07 (Dec 30, 2009)

*Pigeons might be considered "poultry" - but a Wood Pigeon might be more complicated*

Just a thought. They might consider pigeons and doves "poultry" and have different rules for them. But a bigger complicating factor for your Wood Pigeon might be that it is technically a protected "wild bird" - so other rules might apply. The first question I have is do you have a permit to own the bird legally now in the UK? If not (or even if you do have a permit), the UK may have a problem letting you take it out of the UK. Also, Canada might have a problem letting you bring it in, since they would likely respect laws protecting wild birds from other countries. If the bird in unreleaseable, they _should_ bend the rules for you but you may also hit a lot of red tape, if not a brick wall or two.

So, if I were you, I'd write some letters beforehand to whoever handles this animal transport stuff on both the UK and Canadian side - explain the situation and see what they say - because if you just show up with the bird when you are moving, he very likely may not make the trip with you. The UK customs people may see you as a person trying take a protected native bird out of the UK without a permit and the Canadian side may see you as someone trying to import a non-native wild bird into Canada without a permit. For these reasons, I'd also have a backup plan in place if you can't take him - i.e. try to find someone or a wildlife rehab group in the UK who would take the bird if you can't bring him with you. Given that a Wood Pigeon is a wild native species to the UK, bringing him back with you to Canada may simply be impossible, despite your good intentions. 

To some degree, governments "tolerate" people helping injured wildlife without permits - but technically, owning him may be illegal even in the UK. So they might be OK with you keeping him in the UK if he is unreleaseable - since he would otherwise not survive - but bringing him out of the country will likely be complicated if not impossible. That's why I suggest having a backup plan so you can leave him in good hands in the UK if necessary.


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## Quazar (Jul 27, 2010)

Lefty07 said:


> Just a thought. They might consider pigeons and doves "poultry" and have different rules for them. But a bigger complicating factor for your Wood Pigeon might be that it is technically a protected "wild bird" - so other rules might apply. The first question I have is do you have a permit to own the bird legally now in the UK? If not (or even if you do have a permit), the UK may have a problem letting you take it out of the UK. Also, Canada might have a problem letting you bring it in, since they would likely respect laws protecting wild birds from other countries. If the bird in unreleaseable, they _should_ bend the rules for you but you may also hit a lot of red tape, if not a brick wall or two.
> 
> So, if I were you, I'd write some letters beforehand to whoever handles this animal transport stuff on both the UK and Canadian side - explain the situation and see what they say - because if you just show up with the bird when you are moving, he very likely may not make the trip with you. The UK customs people may see you as a person trying take a protected native bird out of the UK without a permit and the Canadian side may see you as someone trying to import a non-native wild bird into Canada without a permit. For these reasons, I'd also have a backup plan in place if you can't take him - i.e. try to find someone or a wildlife rehab group in the UK who would take the bird if you can't bring him with you. Given that a Wood Pigeon is a wild native species to the UK, bringing him back with you to Canada may simply be impossible, despite your good intentions.
> 
> To some degree, governments "tolerate" people helping injured wildlife without permits - but technically, owning him may be illegal even in the UK. So they might be OK with you keeping him in the UK if he is unreleaseable - since he would otherwise not survive - but bringing him out of the country will likely be complicated if not impossible. That's why I suggest having a backup plan so you can leave him in good hands in the UK if necessary.


Firstly, Generally you do not need a permit to keep/own a wood pigeon or pigeon in the UK. Although they are technically native, they are not a protected species. I say Generally because certain councils/housing associations will not allow pets as part of their lease, but that is a totally different situation and nothing to do with actual laws of the land.
If you class him as an indoor pet, no matter what other class (ie poutry etc) he is subjected too, I would try to find out by direct personal contact of both UK & Canada customs to try and work out a possble outcome.
Website info is usually generalised and is info for importing/exporting, rather than personal situations relating to physical pets.
Even if things were possible to be allowed, he will obviously have to undergo certain health checks and quarrantine rules.


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## pigiesNdovies (Nov 21, 2011)

You have a 50/50 chance. 
On one side, bird flu n other nonsense fees country laws holdups
On the end side, Canada n Uk are both under the list of no "x" disease cuase i read the whole article and felt like I was a lawyer defending a foreigner.
I still dont understand why there are soooo many exotic birds in us petshops nowdays but when citizens want to keep exotic birds from different countries a lot of contradictions showup

Best advice, contact uk and canadian professional vet that specialises in birds and works with wildlife n zoos....


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