Ngo ADDA hands in 4633 signatures to the Catalan Parliament against live capture of songbirds

Barcelona, January 15, 2013. - ADDA has handed in to the Catalan Parliament a petition of 4,633 signature collected in support of the campaign against live capture and possession of songbirds.

In late 2011, the Generalitat de Catalunya amended, by means of a decree, the text of the Law on the Protection of Animals 2/2008 to allow the live capture, breeding, possession and public display of finches, goldfinches, greenfinches and linnets. By the same move these song birds have also been taken off the list of protected species in Catalunya. These amendments were made to maintain a tradition followed by a minority and to support the trade of these birds, many of which change hands for large sums.

Allowing the live capture of these birds constitutes a violation of European law. ADDA, in collaboration with DEPANA and the Swiss organization Fondation Franz Weber, has submitted a formal complaint to the European Commission. This complaint has been accepted by the Commission.

ADDA has been campaigning by collecting signatures, both on petition forms and also through the website Change.org which has been collecting signatures online. 1,777 signatures in paper form were handed in to the M.H. Ms. Núria de Gispert, President of the Catalan Parliament and a further 2,865 signatures were added from the online petition. In total 4,633 petitions are now with the Parliament of Catalonia .

Thank you to all our supporters for their collaboration and support so far. The campaign is still active so please keep adding your voices