Birds on a downward spiral

Take Turkey, for example, where over 11 million birds are kept as pets. The figure for the country on the Bosphorus is only surpassed in Europe by Italy, where the bird population amounted to 12.9 million in 2008. Companion birds also have an important place in the pet shop ranges of some eastern European countries. They continue to be in demand in those countries in particular where the market for small animals is still underdeveloped. Poland and Ukraine are cited as striking examples, with a comparatively high population of companion birds.In spite of the varying population figures in different countries, the market is developing in a similar manner almost everywhere: the bird segment is stagnating and is even in decline in some countries.Downturn on all continentsWhat's the reason for the decline? One explanation that is frequently heard is that birds are pets for old people. Young people wanting to own a pet hanker chiefly after dogs, cats, small animals or reptiles, but not canaries or budgerigars. A younger generation to provide fresh impetus for the hobby is thus lacking. The most striking nosedive in the bird segment was in Germany, where the effect was intensified by the campaigns a few years ago by animal welfare activists against the sale of parrots bred in the wild. These campaigns discredited bird-keeping, with the additional consequence that parrots are rarely sold by the speciality trade nowadays. The commotion over bird flu that has also affected the hobby of bird-keeping in recent years has further limited the keeping of companion birds in Germany. As a result, the market volume has shrunk to € 100 mio, almost half of what it was at the end of the 1990s.The decline in the companion bird segment has affected not only Europe but other continents too. In the USA for instance, where the APPA industry association estimated the number of companion birds at 16 mio in 2008, the market for food for cage birds contracted from $ 142.2 mio to $ 128.7 mio between 2003 and 2008. Bird-keeping is in a precarious position even in Japan: sales of bird food and accessories amounted to JPY 9,440 bn in 2006, a much lower figure than for the small mammal market and equivalent to just a sixth of the market for dogs.It's a different picture in Australia, where according to the Australian Companion Animal Council, a non-profit organisation for the pet care industry and pet owners, 7.8 mio companion birds were kept in 2007. The market for bird food and accessories…