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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Gentoo" data-source="post: 1224851" data-attributes="member: 35131">That law is generally not enforced in cases like this just for the reasons you outlined. Many people actually do keep and breed native birds. I've known people who have bred American Goldfinches and House Finches to the 4th generation. As long as they not selling the birds, this practice is usually ignored. This is how Europe got their start on establishing many of their birds in aviculture. While it's legal to keep native birds in most European countries, it's illegal to capture and trap them now. They must be captive bred and in the UK, they also have to be close-rung to prove it. Serins in the UK must also be officially registered. Whether or not one agrees with this is a matter of opinion. Nonetheless, as many song bird populations decline, zoological facilities are, for the most part, not using their limited resources on song birds as they care more about Parrots, birds of prey and cranes etc. Only private breeders would have a chance to preserve these birds. This has happened in Europe but is not the case in America.</blockquote>