Falconers endorse Raptor Awards approach.
In a recent snap poll carried out at a well-known Falconry Fair we asked Falconers about their attitudes to standards of Raptor Care in the UK The respondents were asked about the current level of bird of prey welfare and whether national standards should be applied to those who have responsibility for keeping or working with birds of prey.
We always believed that our approach of working with experts and professionals such as raptor vets to establish core standards for bird of prey welfare was the right one, but we were amazed at the strength of feeling and level of support, said Julie Murphy Director and Head of Standards at Raptor Awards.
Raptor Awards uses the International and Occupational Standards for Bird of Prey Welfare to underpin the bird of prey courses delivered by the network of providers, and to set quality assurance standards for their Instructors and Assessors.
The proposals and responses to the consultation are shown below.
| Proposal | %
Agreed |
% Disagreed | %
Unsure |
| There should be minimum standards for those that keep and/or work with raptors | 100% | 0% | 0% |
| Standards developed should form the basis of courses/awards delivered to those that keep and/ or work with raptors. Such courses/awards should incorporate these Standards as a minimum. | 98% | 2% | 0% |
| There should be specific Standards relating to specific roles.
These roles are shown below. |
100% | 0% | 0% |
| There should be a Standard for a ‘Keeper’ that would be a basic raptor welfare standard for those that keep/ maintain raptors. They may own these personally or work in a bird of prey centre or for some other organisation where they may come into contact with raptors e.g. vet nurses, RSPCA staff etc. | 98% | 2% | 0% |
| There should be a Standard for a ‘Falconer’ that would apply to those that handle and fly/ hunt with raptors. | 93% | 2% | 5% |
| There should be a Standard for a ‘Pest Controller’ that applies to those that use raptors for the purpose of controlling pests. | 97% | 0% | 3% |
| There should be a Standard for a ‘Display Giver’ that applies to those that use trained raptors in displays. These may be flying demonstrations, film, television or stage work or static displays such as those found in zoos, farm parks and bird of prey centres. | 97% | 0% | 3% |
| There should be a Standard for a ‘Rehabilitator’ that applies to those that rehabilitate raptors. | 98% | 0% | 2% |
| There should be a Standard for a ‘Breeder’ that applies to those- that breed raptors. | 100% | 0% | 0% |