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Falconry in France and exporting my birds????


Hawkplasterer
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Hi, we are possibly moving to France in the future from the UK and I currently own and fly a Harris and Gos. I just wondered if anyone may be able to confirm as to whether or not I will be able to take the birds with me? I totally understand that to hunt with raptors in France you need a permis de chasser (hunting licence) and of course I will be going for that and hopefully will acheive it but the test you have to do is a general hunting test and quite extensive, now that bit I can hopefully deal with but it is also in French and although I am currently learning the language I will probably not be up to scratch by the time we go and so not able to sit the test for between 6-12 months. My question is, will I be able to export my birds (obviously with all correct ownership and health certs etc) and keep them as an owner at least until I get my permis de chasser or can I not even keep them in France without it? I have read and heard so many different views and answers on this but really do need a definite. I will obviously do all I can to find out from the appropriate French authorities but even that is not as simple as it may seems. Thanks in anticipation.

Hawkplasterer

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Hi there Hawkplasterer, and welcome to the forum!

I happened to be reading the newspaper "Ouest France" the other day, and saw an article (link here)

about a big gathering of bird specialists which had just been held in

the Vendee.  The organisation is "BirdTag", and they have just held this

meeting at the Puy du Fou theme park, in the Vendee, which has a big

collection of birds of prey and stages a fantastic show with them.

Thinking that the association might be of some help to you, I googled "Bird Tag" but have not found a website for it.

The director of falconry at the Puy du Fou is called Jean-Louis Liégeois;  maybe he would be able to advise you. 

Here is a pic of him.

Liégeois has a blog here, but I can't see how you could contact him through it.  (Might help develop your french falconry vocabulary though!)

There is a "contacts" page on the PduF website here, that you could try.

I have found on the Puy du Fou site a reference to ANFA, a French organisation for traditional falconry (which I see Polly has also mentioned above).  It has a website here (all in French) that has a link to a Contact page, where you might come upon somebody able to advise you.

Angela

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The actual requirements for importing birds to France seem clear and straightforward.

http://ambafrance-us.org/spip.php?article783

Whether the breeds fall under CITES or not I don't know but I'm sure they would be able to advise, and in English too.

The Harris does not appear to be listed as an endangered species although the Gos is.

http://www.cites.org

Hunting with them is an entirely separate matter and should not influence the actual importation of the birds.

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