Ban on birds hurts small business

BAMAKO, Mali -- For caged Senegalese parrots chirping away their morning in captivity, a European ban to combat an Asian virus might mean freedom.\nOr starvation.\nIn late October, a quarantined parrot from South America died in the United Kingdom from H51N strain of the avian bird influenza, prompting the European Union to impose a blanket prohibition on the importation of all exotic birds.\nThe temporary ban has shuttered the bird export industry in some of Africa's poorest countries, forcing traders in Bamako to choose between feeding birds they might never sell, or letting their investment fly away.