RPRA

[schouwman71]

Sent a copy a few weeks ago to ponte & cas express never seen it put in yet,and dont think it will,they are really not interested.

[jimmy white]

I BELEIVE THERES A LOT GOING ON[ HELPWISE] BETWEEN THE UNIONS, AND PETER BRYANT, WHO IS DOING HIS BEST, BUT THE CONFEDEARATION OF RACING PIGEONS ARE THE BIGGEST VOICE, SOMETIMES IT MAKES YOU WONDER,, ITS NOT WHAT YOU KNOW ,ITS WHO YOU KNOW, THAT COUNTS. ALL FANCIERS SHOULD STICK TOGETHER, NO IF, HOWS, OR BUTS,  AND  AFTER ALL,   WERE ALL JOCK TAMPSONS BAIRNS

[Guest]

I think we need to be aware of the position the sport is in. No harm to Peter Bryant, but he is basically firefighting. We are a day and a half behind the press, this is the second weekend of Scary Pigeon Stories, and the public is taking its 'facts' from these press fairy stories, not us, so we basically try to play catch-up all the time, only we never do, because the press don't print our 'press release'.

 

Ive really have to laugh when some people post about 'cost'. Peter Bryant responded to my suggestion of a campaign in much the same way - £30,000 for a full-pager in a half-decent newspaper!!! But what is the alternative? £30K in the bank when Government advisers are going to a conference later this month to 'float' the cull of racing pigeons AND the destruction of back-garden / allotment lofts? (Read 'Racing pigeons face bird flu cull' on main avian flu thread, link to Sunday Times article posted by Mealybar. ) Oh Yes, £30,000 in the bank at the cost of no pigeons, no lofts.

 

And even when trouble is all around us, there's political nit-picking in this thread too.  Really need collective action, and irrespective of what organisation you belong to, make sure you make them aware of your concerns and suggest some course of action.

 

Me? I'd rather fight for us, than fight amongst us, to get the right message accross to the public. And if it is successful, then its money well spent, no matter what the final cost is. Bank balances can easily be replaced; pigeons, lofts and public confidence can't.

 

[jimmy white]

   .

 

And even when trouble is all around us, there's political nit-picking in this thread too.  Really need collective action, and irrespective of what organisation you belong to, make sure you make them aware of your concerns and suggest some course of action.

 

Me? I'd rather fight for us, than fight amongst us, to get the right message accross to unquote]

 

just to remind newcomers to the forum that there is a post on the forum for politics,and its certainly not this one

[THE FIFER]

WELL SAID JIMMY THE SITE HAS BEEN GREAT FOR A WHILE BUT LOOKS AS THOUGH ITS FALLING BACK TO WHERE IT WAS, ?????????????????????????

[Jazza]

Think about it man, if no birds racing dem guys ave no job.. should be fighting for da sport. well paid jobs for not a lot of hard work. RPRA like da royal family too many hangers on wit no birds but like plenty say and plenty expenses. Jazza tink dat the RPRA and da NFC commitee is well out of touch wit da guys flying and da modern day racing and da problems

[Guest]

Agree with you Jazza but please do not attack the Royal Family a lot of people think a great deal about them.

[THE FIFER]

well said hyacinth, the royals are also pigeon fanciers.

[Guest]

Just to set the record straight, my email to Peter Bryant was a suggestion that he lead a combined unions campaign - the funds coming from all of them, not the RPRA alone.

[THE FIFER]

I AGREE THERE BRUNO, IT'S WHAT IS REQUIRED, NO USE ONE TRYING TO DO ANYTHING IT REQUIRES THEM ALL TO GET TOGETHER AND DOING SO MONEY SHOULD NOT BE AN ISSUE, IF NOT LOCAL COUNCILS AND NEIGHBOURS ARE GOING TO HAVE THE BALL AT THEIR FEET TO GET RID OF PIGEONS,

[dandydoo]

I just dont think any of the Unions are battling hard enough ...this is the one single issue that may sound the death knell for Pigeon racing ....there are enough problems with Hawks, people who are animal lib orientated ..legislation regarding convoying and crates etc ..but AI is the single biggest threat yet. Don't know if these people have the skills, energy and experience in PR, Organising a campaign and being proactive. They have never come close in the raptor campaign. Worrying

 

Hyacinth I have some sympathy with Jazza re Royals ..but can see where you are coming from having a head of state like Bush ... makes the Royals look really good lol

DD

[dandydoo]

Forgot to say ....a Joint campaign may be difficult given Scotland has devolved responsibility for Environment and rural affairs so any agreement with DEFRA is not valid and binding in Scotland

[THE FIFER]

they don't have the experience in the pr field regarding this problem, but they have the money to get one who has, and lets face it most unions do have lawyers to advise them, but are they going to leave it too late, this is the best ever tool the anty pigeon brigade has ever had, if they frighten the public into panic pigeos will be abolished within 24hrs.

[THE FIFER]

just read in my local paper this morning, complaints about seaguls from the public, making a noise etc so u are now going to be fined £50 if caught feeding them, and they are going to have eggs taken from nests etc to cut down their numbers, its also about time they did the same with crows and of course hawks, but the public are not complianing about them, so they are ok, but wait until they start about pigeons.

[dandydoo]

Correct Fifer ..they should be engaging a PR company now before its too late

[Guest]

Forgot to say ....a Joint campaign may be difficult given Scotland has devolved responsibility for Environment and rural affairs so any agreement with DEFRA is not valid and binding in Scotland

 

 

Britain and Ireland governments are more joined-up than you think. Correct about DEFRA and MAFF, but England, Scotland and Wales are one 'unit' as far as AI disease control is concerned, with DEFRA in the lead.

 

Ireland is a single unit too, not sure which is the lead 'agriculture' department though.

[jimmy white]

yes dandydoo and bruno,,,,,,,pronto

[Guest]

Be very interested to hear reply on this bruno will you post it when you get it

 

Was locked-out of email for a while, techy probs with Blueyonder so couldn't post before now; sitting on this one till the weekend because reckon at least two misunderstandings in there that need to be cleared up: suggested campaign mainly for public education and convince governments of our case, not SIMPLY to race the channel; and the one thing pigeons are reckoned NOT to do is spread bird flu.

 

 

19/3/06

 

Dear Mr Bryant,

 

I have followed your continuing problems with Avian Flu – I think you have done very well, but with respect what you have been involved in could be termed skirmishes rather than battles, and rear-guard actions rather than offensives. For example you issue press statements on already published defamatory press articles which has damaged the sport: but the Press simply don't publish them; and in this week’s View from the Reddings when talking about Denmark's proposal that there's to be no pigeon racing across another EU country's borders, your reaction (and that of the RPRA?) "So that puts paid to going to Belgium for the present".

 

Again with respect, what is needed NOW is a direct campaign. Full page Newspaper adverts, car and transporter windscreen stickers “racing pigeons DON’T spread Bird Flu”, TV adverts, and high-octane representation in the right places.

 

Why?

 

(1) We've no racing anywhere at the moment and haven't had for at least 6 months, yet Avian flu has continued to spread unabated through a further 13 countries. So clearly it’s not racing pigeons or pigeon racing that's spreading the disease.

 

(2) Haven't seen huge nets going up in the sky to stop the wild birds crossing borders - yet currently these are the main suspects spreading the disease. They are also ring-fenced in that every EU Country’s contingency plan specifically excludes culling them. So basically wild birds are ‘guilty’ spreading the disease but are too difficult to control and politically a really hard call, while racing pigeons are low risk, quite easy to control and politically a soft option.

 

(3) Faced with these facts SOMEONE should be putting the strongest case forward to the EU that curtailing pigeon racing won't make a blind bit of difference to the spread of avian flu. NOT shrugging their shoulders and accepting a further restriction especially when that restriction is a piece of nonsense. According to scientific opinion it will not stop the virus spreading and this has now been been proved to be the case in the wild – no pigeon racing, yet disease still spreads. (Refer to your email of 301105 for opinion expressed by Dr Richard Swayne, Director, CDC, USA, who has worked on H5N1 and AI infections in pigeons)

 

 

I hope you will be able to galvanise concerted action by all affected pigeon unions throughout Europe. We have the same rights of input and ‘reply’ to these proposals and plans as other stakeholders. I hope that organisations do mount a campaign, because simple acceptance of something so vacuous and forced upon us simply makes it easier for the same things to be done repeatedly in the future. Also, if our case is accepted at that level it will also be more likely to be accepted by the general public, and vice versa.

 

Yours

 

 

20/3/06

 

 

Thanks for your comments. In an ideal world your ideas have merit but do you have any idea just how much TV and press adverts cost? £30,000 for a full page advert at least in the red tops. And in any case your premise that racing pigeons don't spread AI is, according to our experts (that is racing pigeon vets who have provided the research information) not wholly correct. There is a chance that that can spread AI, there is also a chance that they can contract HPAI. So it is a case of pragmatism rather than flexing one's muscles. We have been assured of UK racing and we do not want to jeopardise that for the sake of making a point about continental racing. In any case it is up to each country of the EU to make domestic regulations regarding bird gatherings so it is not just a GB/DEFRA decision. Just for the record there is a fancier working within the EU and on behalf of the FCI so we are well represented there and I believe he is doing a good job. We did fight hard to get where we are today. You will recall that when the ban was initially announced in October we were classed with poultry and no movements at all. I appreciate that these may seem like skirmishes but of course we will be totally reactive if and when AI reaches our shores. Whether or not we issue proactive press releases rather than reactive press releases still does not mean that the media will take these on board. Regards Peter Bryant General Manager The Royal Pigeon Racing Association The Reddings near Cheltenham, Glos GL51 6RN tel 01452 713529 fax 857119

 

 

[THE FIFER]

ALL WE HAVE TO DO NOW IS WAIT, AND HOPE FOR THE BEST, IT'S A PITY THE OLD SAYING THAT "YESTERDAYS PAPERS, ARE TODAYS FISH SUPPERS"  BUT THEN U ARE NOT ALLOWED TO WRAP FISH AND CHIPS IN NEWSPAPERS NOW I DON'T THINK? A SHAME AS THEY WERE GOOD FOR THAT.

[Guest]

Not finished yet. Put on back-burner to concentrate on the Scottish Executive / Parliament adviser who featured in last Sunday's Times article 'racing pigeons face bird flu cull' (main avian flu board).

 

If Dr Douglas Fleming's advice to Scotland's Government is to mass cull racing pigeons and take down pigeon lofts to protect local communities, 'wait and hope for the best' isn't an option.

 

I'm doing a letter to my MSP Cathie Peattie quoting our references, and one or two more up-to-date pointers to strengthen our case that pigeons don't spread the virus ... like: the 110,000 pigeons that were tested in China in a province in which humans had contracted and died of the virus, and those pigeons were proved clear; and DEFRA's latest Risk Assessment in which Swayne's opinion that pigeons are fairly resistant to H5N1 has been accepted..

 

 

[THE FIFER]

WELL DONE BRUNO KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK

[Guest]

Nice one Bruno , keep it up mate!

[fifestay]

would fanciers both north and South not pay a levy of say £5 to £10 for a carchline campaign

[jimmy white]

GIVEN BRUNOS LAST PARAGRAPH IN HIS LAST POST, KIND OF CONTRADICTS PETER BRYANTS LETTER CONCERNING PIGEONS BEING CARRIERS,I HAVE A POST ON AVIAN FLU WHICH ALSO CONTRADICTS THE SAME...IT LOOKS TO ME THAT THE RPRA DONT WANT TO SPEND MONEY,AT LEAST IT LOOKS LIKE THAT IN THE FIRST PART OF HIS LETTER, I DARESAY PETER BRIANT IS DOING HIS BEST, BUT,,,,,MONEY, FOR BIG TIME PR,IS THAT POSSIBLE,,,,MUST SAY BRUNOS DOING AN EXELLENT JOB.

[Guest]

I've been looking at the latest risk assessments on pigeons held by EU (Sep 2005) and DEFRA (Feb 2006). Will post as joint item on main avian flu thread.

 

Looked again at AI Article dated 20/3/06 from Peter Bryant on home page, its DEFRA thats stopped us flying the channel, NOT the EU, based on 'risk assessment'. Looking at latest risk assessment, (Feb 2006) that ban just doesn't add up.