By: Nico van Benten With thanks to the Entente Européenne and the Dutch Unions for their invitation, cooperation and photos.

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1 By: Nico van Benten With thanks to the Entente Européenne and the Dutch Unions for their invitation, cooperation and photos. The Entente Européenne was founded on June 18 th 1938 at Brussels, preceded by the WPSA (World Society for Small Livestock breeding) that was founded in 1922 and already at had a World Congress every 4 years. France, Belgium, Luxemburg and The Netherlands were the Countries that founded this Entente, later joined by Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Sweden and Great Britain, so a total of 9 countries in This number was growing steadily up to 14 participating countries in 1988, when the Entente celebrated its 50 years Jubilee. At the moment there are 28 joined countries. Worthy of mention is the number of registered breeders in Holland in 1987, being rabbit breeders; 8500 poultry- and waterfowl breeders and 3500 fancy pigeon breeders; a total of At the moment, some 20 years later, this decreased to a number between and Aim of the Entente is promoting the interest of rabbit-, poultry- and pigeon fanciers at a European level. Each year as usual the annual meeting of the Entente Europeénne takes place in the Ascension-weekend. This year it was in Leusden, Holland from May 25 th to May 28 th. An enormous organisation and chock-full programme, such as the Thursday meetings of the Board, the Standard Committee, the Committee of Animal Health and Animal Protection and the Supervisory Board of the 25 th European Show 2006 at Leipzig-Germany. Friday meeting of the Sections There is a pigeon section, a poultry section, a rabbit section and a cavy section. The section meetings are hold in separate rooms and last all day. Your reporter attended the meeting of the pigeon section and was impressed with the increased professionalism of the meeting, compared to some 4 years ago. Jean Louis Frindell, board member and secretary of the Standard Committee stated that much experience was gained in the passed years. Above: The Section Pigeons in meeting. At 8.15 hrs Chairman Dr. Werner Lüthgen opened the meeting, after being re-elected for another 3-years period. (This now being his final period as chairman.) At first the European

2 breed Shows were discussed and several catalogues were handed to the present. 8 Out of 13 announced Shows had to be cancelled due to the bird flu. Only the European Breed Shows in Switzerland and Germany took place. Urs Freiburghaus, chairman of the Entente, mentioned that the organisation of such shows can hardly be realised without sponsoring. Besides that he urged the represents in case of veterinary national restrictions not to give in too soon, but to negotiate and stand up for our interests. Left: At the section meetings various magazines and catalogues were handed out to the country representatives. During the next season the Entente will not give permission to organise European Breed Shows, because of the coming European Show in Leipzig. Two new pigeon breeds are announced; The Fisher pigeon, with a 7mm leg ring and the Abu Abse with an 8mm leg ring. Also was announced that the Felegyhaser Tumbler is recognised in the plain-headed variety. Other announcements concerned the evaluation of the rules of the Europe Show at Prague. The Entente-logo will be completed with a fifth species, which is Birds. Delegates of the Section Birds were present at this congress for the first time. Lately the Entente has invested much effort in its website, on which much information is to be found in the three Entente languages. The website will be updated regularly. The position of the ornamental doves is not the same in every country; in the one country they are grouped with the poultry section and in the other with the fancy pigeons or the birds. Due to that the leg ring series and numbering differs. The next Entente meeting will be hold in Bratislava CZ in 2007; after that in the beautiful town of Pula, Croatia in 2008; next year 2009 in Belgium and in 2010 in Spain, more precisely that will be at the Canary Islands. Presentatie en voorlichting over komende Europashow te Leipzig At the section meeting on Friday and also at the General Meeting on Saturday, Dr. Lothar Heinrich, exhibition manager of The Europe Show, gave detailed information about the show. Registration- and regulation forms and brochures are available, also via internet. The Show will take place from 8th until 10th December 2006 in Leipzig, Neue Messe, a beautiful Hall. Closing date is 1 October It was emphasised that all pigeons must be vaccinated against Paramyxovirose. A valid veterinary vaccination card has to be presented as well as a vet s international certificate of health. To avoid fraud, both certificates must be signed in blue ink and stamped with coloured ink. There are separate regulations for animal sale. All contacts, such as registration and payment, will be handled by national representatives. One was advised to arrange his needed hotel accommodation quickly.

3 Presentation of the Committee for Animal health and Animal protection The advisory board for Animal Health and Welfare is a panel of international counsellors, for the Committee and the general meeting of the EE and for the affiliated associations in international questions referring to animal health and welfare. A very good initiative which can be of great importance on organising risk full shows, like the Europe Show. The members of the advisory board: Prof. Dr. Hans-Joachim Schille (D), chairman (see photo) Dr.med.vet. Wilhelm Hippe (D) H.J.H. Janssen (NL) Dr. med. Joseph Rey-Bellet (CH) Prof. Dr. Adolf Scholl (CH) Dr. vet. Andy Verelst (B) Meeting of the European Pigeon judges The next European meetings for the Pigeon judges will be September 15/ in Bern (CH) and September 2007 at Warsaw (PL). Motion leg rings A motion was moved about permitting a bigger sized leg ring (max 1 mm), provided that it is not removable, to be taken in the Entente Show Rules. There followed some discussion concerning those breeds that must have a specific ring size because smallness is the most important breed mark. Lecture Belgium and Slovenia Two delegates gave a lecture on the Organisation of the Pigeon Fanciers in their country. At the moment the Belgian Association has 2500 registered fanciers, half of them being pigeon fanciers. There are 160 clubs and 2x 20 pigeon judges (20 in Flanders and 20 in Wallonia). Besides that there are about homing pigeon keepers. Slovenia has 2 million inhabitants; amongst these are 360 registered pigeon fanciers, 35 clubs and 3 breed clubs. Above: Standing up is André Legrand, the Belgian delegate during his lecture. At his left hand Charles Quiros, the Spanish delegate and right hand Alain Benatier, chairman of the French Pigeon Asc. Right: Igor Cegevnic, the Slovenian delegate during his lecture. Conclusion Section meeting The Chairman wanted to know which countries are using the Entente judging system by giving points from 90 to 97. Practically all countries do so, except one or two. The section meeting was ended at hours with the wish to us all to meet again next year in Bratislava (Slovakia).

4 Annual Convention of the Entente Européenne Saturday, May 27th 2006 Not a single chair was unoccupied in the large conference room of Hotel Leusden. Except the board members and special guests there were some 150 delegates of the participating countries. In his opening words chairman Urs Freiburghaus welcomed the members of honour of the Entente and the special guests. A word of welcome also for the delegates of the Section Birds, which were present for the first time. Special thanks for Hans Schipper and Jan Kamps, which did a splendid job with their teams in organising this congress. Another word of thanks was for the sponsors of this congress; without them the costs per delegate would have been at least a 100,00 more. And last but not least Urs Lochmann (CH) and Jean Louis Frindell (F) were thanked for their indispensable work as simultaneous translators. Announcements of the chairman Last year the various regulations on controlling the bird flue was once more disadvantageous to our hobby, moreover they were not into line with each other. That is why it is not just the fear of the bird flue that keeps us busy, but mostly the chaotically measurements and regulations. We ascertain that the EU in Brussels was not able to create uniformity on this. The many shows that had to be cancelled caused a big material damage and besides that there is a reasonable fear that many fanciers will quit the hobby. The newly appointed Advisory board for Animal Health and Welfare has promising contacts with the EU in Brussels, so especially uniform European regulations concerning International Shows can be expected, such as a vaccination policy and clear rules for the coming Europe Show at Leipzig, on which the committee had an appointment in Brussels at May 22nd. The Entente is expanding; another country is participating by means of a pigeon delegate from Rumania. In Switzerland, an intensive cooperation between the Society for the prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the Small Livestock breeders resulted in developing a certification for keeping pets and fancy breeds. The board members of the Entente kept many international contacts and visited several shows, among those the National Rabbit Show in Neurenberg, Germany with animals and The National Pigeon and Poultry Show at Leipzig with animals, including poultry,

5 ornamental fowl and waterfowl. The chairman took part in an international meeting of pigeon fanciers at the Pigeon Museum at Neurenberg. Report of the Sections The chairmen of the section Poultry (Frans van Oers), section Pigeons (Dr. Werner Lüthgen), section Rabbits (Jo Vanhommerig) and Section Cavies (Evelyne van Vliet) and Birds (Günter Huber) reported on their activities. Report Advisory board for Animal Health and Welfare On behalf of the advisory board, Prof. Hans-Joachim Schille announced a new member on the panel of counsellors, Dr. Med. Josef Rey-Bellet, whose input being a medical man will be of great value, especially concerning the risk of the bird flue for humans. Prof. Schille briefly informed us about the endeavours and priorities of the committee and appealed to the delegates to keep him informed on developments concerning the bird flue. Financial report treasurer Treasurer Willy Littau started his report with the remark that the Entente should have been bankrupt long ago when there were no sponsors. The board already agreed with this, on conditions that things should be laid down in some kind of a contract. The treasurer informed us that in the mean time several sponsors are interested, but there has not been a possibility to frame a treaty. The bird flu also had a hindering effect on this. Members of Honour According to the Chairman this is a very important item, especially as the honorary membership is not simply linked at a number of years that one was behind the board table! Werner Iseli One must have deserved well in a special way and this for certain applies to Werner Iseli s many years of dedication. Without his efforts not one Entente letter would have been printed and no matter if this concerned cards, writing-paper or council s reports, including the forwarding and postage, years and years this man got through a lot of work without ever charging a penny. Istvan Rohringer The second candidate was Istvan Rohringer. He also devoted himself to the Entente for many years and deserved well, full of zeal to the National Judges Association, many breed clubs and exhibition organisations. As a pigeon judge he is internationally held in respect. His contributions to the Standard Committee of the Pigeon Section show his great knowledge and love for the pigeon. Urs Freiburghaus As the photo shows, Urs Freiburghaus (left), the Chairman of the Entente, was very surprised and impressed when he received the Certificate that goes with the Honorary Membership of the Entente Européenne, which was awarded to him because of his great devotion to the European small animal breeding hobby. The Certificate was handed to him by the Secretary General Gion Gross. Except from the Certificate and Felicitations, the Honorary Members get a warm applause from those present. Formation of the Section Birds At the request of Germany, Croatia, Austria, Switzerland, Slovakia, Slovenia and Czech Republic, and following earlier Entente resolutions, a Section Birds is added to the Entente. The mentioned countries shall present the delegates for the section. The chairman of the

6 new section is Günter Huber from Austria and Heinz Stephani from Switzerland is the secretary. By holding up the green vote cards, the delegates show their agreement on the extension of the EE with the Section Birds. 25 th European Exhibition Leipzig 8 10 December 2006 by Chairman Dr. Lothar Heinrich The 25 th European Show will proceed, if need be with rabbits and cavies only Of course the 25 th European Exhibition at Leipzig was extensively under discussion. Chairman Dr. Lothar Heinrich informed us about this event by means of the latest techniques such as a beamer. We could have a glimpse of the various halls, the entry, the restaurants and press facilities. The brochures, regulations and registration forms are available, but participation goes via appointed contact persons; in Holland this is Jo Dommerholt at jfdommerholt@hotmail.com and for further questions Geri Glastra can be contacted at gglastra@kpnplanet.nl All info on the EuropaShow Leipzig can be found at Last word by the Chairman The Chairman hopes to see us all at the next meeting in Bratislava, about 60 km from Vienna. The congress date is May and costs will be about 340,00 each. After thanking Hans Schipper once more for his great effort at organising this congress, chairman Urs Freiburghaus ended the meeting with the following words (of Jeremias Gotthelf): When all help each other it cannot fail, and when all blow together on the Embers of the Fire, it must become a roaring Flame. Wenn alles einander hilft so kann es nicht fehlen, Und wenn alles bläset, so muss ein Feuerfunke zur Flamme werden. Si tout aide à tous, rien ne peut manquer, quand tout souffle, une braise doit s èlever en une flamme. Wanneer iedereen elkaar helpt, kan het niet mislukken, en wanneer iedereen blaast, dan moet een vonk tot een vlam komen. Copyright 2006 Aviculture-Europe. All rights reserved by VBC