{"id":2178648,"date":"2024-11-19T12:00:38","date_gmt":"2024-11-19T11:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/?p=2178648"},"modified":"2024-11-17T08:21:12","modified_gmt":"2024-11-17T07:21:12","slug":"thousands-of-birds-seized-in-massive-indonesian-bird-trafficking-bust","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/thousands-of-birds-seized-in-massive-indonesian-bird-trafficking-bust\/","title":{"rendered":"Thousands of birds seized in massive Indonesian bird-trafficking bust"},"content":{"rendered":"

Authorities in Indonesia have rescued more than 6,500 wild birds being trafficked from the island of Sumatra and destined for Java, in what\u2019s been hailed as the single largest seizure of its kind in the country\u2019s modern history.<\/p>\n

Quarantine authorities at the port of Bakauheni in Lampung province, the main crossing point from Sumatra to Java, worked with NGO FLIGHT to intercept a truck carrying the birds on Oct. 15. On board, they found 6,514 birds crammed into 216 boxes, mostly tightly packed and taped. They included 257 individuals from species protected under Indonesian law.<\/p>\n

Kanitha Krishnasamy, Southeast Asia director for wildlife trade watchdog TRAFFIC, said in a news release that her organization \u201chas long monitored the caged bird trade in Indonesia and massive seizures like this one continue to alarm us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Experts have long raised alarms that the bird trade, which heavily targets native species, is causing rapid declines in the numbers of various species in the wild, which, along with habitat loss, could drive many toward extinction.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s simply not sustainable and this level of extraction of unprotected species means we have little means to understand its impact on species until it\u2019s too late,\u201d Krishnasamy said.<\/p>\n

Keeping caged songbirds is a popular tradition in Indonesia, particularly in ethnic Javanese households. The birds are often entered into birdsong competitions, with champion birds selling for hundreds of thousands of dollars.<\/p>\n

Among the birds rescued in the recent seizure, all of which survived, according to FLIGHT, were some of the world\u2019s most threatened species, such as the critically endangered Javan green magpie (Cissa thalassina). There were also thousands of individuals from unprotected species, such as the bar-winged prinia (Prinia familiaris), and a variety of white-eyes (genus Zosterops) and tailorbirds (genus Orthotomus).<\/p>\n

Repeated seizures in Lampung province over the years are partly due to its strategic location on the southernmost tip of Sumatra, making it the main hub for ship and truck traffic to Java, Indonesia\u2019s most populous island. FLIGHT reported that from 2021 to 2023, authorities seized a total of 121,689 Sumatran songbirds, mostly prinias and tailorbirds. About 80% of those seizures occurred in Lampung. The group said many of the birds found during seizures were already dead, having traveled vast distances from their natural habitats as far as the northernmost tip of Sumatra.<\/p>\n

\u201cLampung is just a transit point and an exit point when they want to cross over to Java,\u201d Marison Guciano, FLIGHT\u2019s executive director, told Mongabay by email. Smuggling routes fan out beyond Indonesia, connecting to 18 countries, including the Philippines, a key destination for smuggled Indonesian parrots and cockatoos.<\/p>\n

The recorded busts likely only scratch the surface of Indonesia\u2019s illegal songbird trade, experts say.<\/p>\n

\u201cAuthorities have foiled the smuggling of more than 200,000 Sumatran songbirds to Java in the past five years. But we believe this is a small number compared to the number of Sumatran birds successfully smuggled into Java,\u201d Marison said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"Black-and-red
Black-and-red broadbills and blue-crowned hanging parrots from the confiscation. Images courtesy of FLIGHT.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"A
A common green magpie and confoscated cages with birds. Images courtesy of FLIGHT.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Quarantine
Quarantine authorities at the port of Bakauheni in Lampung province, the main crossing point from Sumatra to Java, worked with NGO FLIGHT to intercept a truck carrying the birds on Oct. 15. Image courtesy of FLIGHT.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u2018Ramp up efforts vs trafficking networks\u2019<\/h2>\n

Authorities have arrested two people in connection with the Oct. 15 trafficking attempt, and are still working to apprehend the sender of the cargo, whose name they know but haven\u2019t yet published. The suspects have been charged with wildlife trafficking, for which they could face up to five years in prison, and quarantine violations, which carry a maximum sentence of two years and fines of 2 billion rupiah ($127,000).<\/p>\n

FLIGHT said all 6,514 rescued birds were released into suitable wild habitats after being cleared as healthy by a veterinarian from the Lampung quarantine authority.<\/p>\n

Krishnasamy praised the enforcement action, while also urging authorities to \u201cnot stop here but to look at better regulating and controlling the trade\u201d in wild birds.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe networks operating behind the scenes from point of collection at source, right through to the end markets also need further investigations if we are to stop uncontrolled harvest and trade,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Despite the recent seizure, Marison said the Indonesian government hasn\u2019t prioritized efforts to combat the illegal songbird trade, giving birds less attention than mammals such as orangutans and tigers. (The country\u2019s former president, Joko Widodo, who left office in October after a decade in power, is himself an avid songbird collector, and once offered to buy a competition-winning bird for 2 billion rupiah.)<\/p>\n

Marison said current measures focus more on preventing smuggling at seaports rather than addressing issues closer to the source. He added that beyond the centuries-old Javanese tradition of keeping songbirds, the illegal trade is also driven by corrupt local officials issuing breeding and distribution licenses, which unscrupulous traders exploit by taking birds from the wild and passing them off as captive-bred specimens.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the illegal trade in songbirds is still not considered a serious threat and is still handled as usual, I predict that the populations of many songbird species will decline drastically, even disappearing from the wild,\u201d Marison said.<\/p>\n

Citations:<\/h2>\n

Harris, J. B. C., Tingley, M. W., Hua, F., Yong, D. L., Adeney, J. M., Lee, T. M., \u2026 Wilcove, D. S. (2016). Measuring the impact of the pet trade on Indonesian birds. Conservation Biology, 31(2), 394-405. doi:10.1111\/cobi.12729<\/p>\n

Krishna, V. V., Darras, K., Grass, I., Mulyani, Y. A., Prawiradilaga, D. M., Tscharntke, T., & Qaim, M. (2019). Wildlife trade and consumer preference for species rarity: An examination of caged-bird markets in Sumatra. Environment and Development Economics, 24(04), 339-360. doi:10.1017\/s1355770x19000081<\/p>\n

Jepson, P., & Ladle, R. J. (2005). Bird-keeping in Indonesia: Conservation impacts and the potential for substitution-based conservation responses. Oryx, 39(04), 442. doi:10.1017\/s0030605305001110<\/p>\n

Indraswari, K., Friedman, R. S., Noske, R., Shepherd, C. R., Biggs, D., Susilawati, C., & Wilson, C. (2020). It\u2019s in the news: Characterising Indonesia\u2019s wild bird trade network from media-reported seizure incidents. Biological Conservation, 243, 108431. doi:10.1016\/j.biocon.2020.108431<\/p>\n

This article<\/a> by Keith Anthony S. Fabro was first published by Mongabay.com on 14 November 2024. Lead Image: A bar-winged prinia (Prinia familiaris). Image by Lip Kee via Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0).<\/i><\/p>\n

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