Permanent Identification Types: closed leg ring, microchip?

[Clover]

Hello!

(please refer to my introduction post for more of the story)

I've got a big problem concerning the transportation of my lovebird.
My lovebird currently lives in France (while I'm in Singapore for a few months), and in August I will be moving to Finland. The idea is for me to take my lovebird with me as it would be the simplest thing to do (my parents who currently take care of him, will be moving to South Africa, and we figured traveling with a bird within the EU would be simpler than to send it to South Africa, also no one else in our surroundings/relations knows how to care for anything other than a cat, dog or goldfish).

Now here's where the problem starts. The Finnish Agricultural Department (in charge of animal imports and exports, to and from Finland), said that among other things, they require:
"1. 3) the birds are marked with individual codes, either a closed leg-ring or a microchip:"
This is a problem because when I bought my bird (in Singapore), it did not have any ring at all (no closed leg ring). It has now reached its adult size and its too late to put anything other than an open leg ring on (which in this case is not accepted). And for the microchip, I have asked my veterinarian in France, and was told that the bird I would like to import to Finland (lovebird) is too small to have a microchip put on it!

I've emailed the Finnish Agricultural Department about this and they have said that
"the bird must fulfil the import regulations otherwise import is not possible, so the bird must have this microchip."

I've seen this blog post online regarding lovebirds and microchips:
http://lovebirdsinfo.blogspot.com/2008/09/microchipping-perfect-method-for.html
Has anyone here tried microchipping their lovebird? or have any ideas on what I am to do?

[personatus]

Unfortunately there is no way around this. The EU regs are pretty strict regarding such things. If there is no closed ring you will have to microchip the bird, and sadly I have never heard of anyone microchipping a lovebird. I will ask my vets and see what they say (im in the netherlands). I would try as many avian vets you can find in france. good luck!

[Clover]

Hi Personatus,

Thank you very much for your response!
If I had known all of these rules years ago, I would have put a closed leg ring on my bird before it got too old, bummer! I really look forward to hearing what vets in your area have to say! I would be willing to go anywhere to get him microchipped. >.<
This weekend I went to the pet shop I had bought my bird from, and the trader/seller (who also has very close ties with vets) told me that it is physically possible to microchip a lovebird, but I just have to find the vet!
Guess I'll have to call different vets in France...

[linda040899]

There actually IS a way around this, if you can find someone who has an extra band for a Cockatiel. The bands are just a tiny bit bigger but can be slipped over the foot of a lovebird. The US requires banding when birds are shipped and this is what I've had to do when I ship a bird whose foot was too big to band with a regular closed lovebird band.

I was talking to my avian vet about microchipping lovebirds and she said it is possible. She's actually done a few but she may have used a special chip. Let me see what I can find out for you. If not, the slightly larger band might be the answer.

[personatus]

I meant there's no way of moving a bird overseas without a ring or a chip. The larger ring may work, however I would be sceptical. If the ring can go on the foot, it can come off aswell. Customs in EU countries are strict with birds and do check all the documents and closed rings quite thoroughly. If you could get away with adding a larger ring, then every tom, dick and harry would be be exploiting the import ban and adding larger rings to illegal, wild-caught birds and importing them in as captive bred. I'm currently working on helping an English breeder take some birds from Belgium back to the UK...it's a nightmare, they have really clamped down on it in the past 5 years, I think it would be easier to import weapons grade uranium!

You could try the larger ring, but have a backup plan to get the bird home if they refuse it. I would contact as many vets as possible, someone, somewhere will be able to chip the bird for you.

[linda040899]

Personatus is correct that the larger ring can come off and that's the draw back. Microchipping is the obvious answer. You just have to find the right vet to do it. It can be done.

[Clover]

well, when I brought Clover from Singapore to France (along the way he stopped by Germany), nobody asked for a closed ring or a microchip... and that trip was way longer and more "international" than traveling within the EU.

thanks for the idea of the bigger leg-ring, i'll only really use it as a last resort, as it's not very valid. meanwhile i'll try n call all the avian vets I can find in France, to try find one that microchips lovebirds...