Islanders who keep any number of poultry or captive birds are now required to register them with the government’s animal welfare team.

The Infrastructure and Environment Department confirmed that bird keepers should register their birds by 25 January, or within one month of new ownership in future.

It comes as the minimum threshold for registration has been dropped from 30 birds to just one.

The requirements have also been expanded from poultry only to include captive birds, under the Animal Health (Bird Diseases) (Jersey) Order 2017.

The government said known bird keepers had already been contacted, but those who keep a small number of birds and not previously required to register now need to do so.

Keepers should be advised that there are exemptions to the new rules. It does not apply to a keeper if all captive birds kept on a premises:

  • belong to the order Psittaciformes or the order Passeriformes
  • are housed fully within a dwelling or a bird house
  • have no access to open air

FIND OUT MORE…

For more information or to access the registration form visit: Keeping and moving livestock. 

Bird keepers can also contact rva@gov.je with any queries.