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 TradeWild Pets and Laboratory Animals: Birds: Page 5 A bird that has proven almost impossible to protect from bird trappers is the lovely, white Bali Starling or Rothschild's Myna (Leucopsar rothschildi), endemic to the island of Bali, Indonesia. It is now confined to a tiny area on the island's extreme northwest tip inside the Bali Barat National Park. By 1990, the wild population had been reduced to 13 birds, although the captive population was about 700 (Collar et al. 1994). The Bali Starling Project sought to reintroduce captive birds and reinforce guarding of the park. By 1994, the population had risen to between 35 and 55, but poaching continued, off-setting gains of successful breeding (Collar et al. 1994). In 1999, the wild population totaled 12 birds; the same year, 39 captive individuals in the park awaiting release to the wild were stolen by an armed gang (BI 2000). The park and conservation program have suffered from mismanagement and corruption, and the price for these birds on the black market has risen to $2,000 a bird (BI 2000). The protection offered these reintroduced birds has been inadequate, and possibly involves complicity with poachers by park guards.
The keeping of sparrows and finches is extremely popular in Latin America and parts of Asia. Two songbirds, the Brown-backed (Myadestes occidentalis) and Slate-colored Solitaires (Myadestes unicolor) in Central America, are heavily trapped, disappearing from many areas. Two ornithologists commented, "It is a sad morning indeed that one experiences forests deprived of these fine songsters" (Howell and Webb 1995). A finch that has long been subjected to bird trapping because it is bred with domestic canaries for "Red Factor Canaries," the Red Siskin (Carduelis cucullata), of northern Venezuela and a small area in Colombia, has become endangered from this illegal trade (Collar et al. 1994). This bright red bird requires moist evergreen forest, dry deciduous woodland and shrubby grassland habitat, moving from one to another seasonally. It has disappeared from Trinidad and from almost all its original range in Venezuela and Colombia (Collar et al. 1994) and is listed as Endangered by the 2000 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species and the U.S. Endangered Species Act. It is also listed on Appendix I of CITES.
Steve Howell and Sophie Webb (1995), authors of a guidebook on birds of Mexico and northern Central America, commented on the bird trade in Latin America: "Paradoxically, keeping parrots and songbirds in cages about the house is considered an appreciation of nature. Sadly, the desire to have birds, particularly parrots, as pets has spread far beyond Middle America . . . Within 20 years or less, we predict that wild Scarlet Macaws and Yellow-headed Parrots may be things of the past in Mexico."
The Java Sparrow (Padda oryzivora), endemic to the Indonesian islands of Java, Bali and Kangean, once flocked in large numbers to towns, villages, gardens and agriculture fields. Within the past few years, however, it has undergone a precipitous decline as a direct result of heavy trapping for the cage bird trade and has become scarce, listed as Vulnerable in BirdLife International's (2000) Threatened Birds of the World and by the IUCN. It is not listed on CITES. In 1995, an embargo on exports from Java and Bali was put in place by the Indonesian government, and the species occurs in several national parks (BI 2000).
Sold for a Song. The Trade in Southeast Asian Non-CITES Birds, by Stephen V. Nash (1993), found that a number of birds not protected by CITES were threatened by the trade. For the most part, the species and numbers involved in the Asian bird trade are undocumented (Nash 1993b). The dual threats of bird trapping and habitat loss are causing declines in many Southeast Asian birds. Endemic species can become endangered by relatively low levels of trade because of their limited habitat. For Asian finches and other species not listed on CITES, most trade is legal, with little concern for their status in the wild. In Southeast Asia, the majority of countries allow capture and sale of wild birds. The few countries that ban trade in wild birds, such as Thailand, have not shut down illegal bird markets in Bangkok and other cities. In Bangkok's Jatujak Market, on a given day, 616 species of native birds are offered for sale (Nash 1993b). Most Western bird owners would be startled at the types of birds sold in these markets. Although doves and finches are sold in great numbers, partridges, pheasants, geese, and barbets are offered, as well as species totally unsuited to captivity, including kingfishers, bee-eaters, storks, woodpeckers and flycatchers. Native birds that are not listed on CITES lack any protection in Indonesia, Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia (Nash 1993b). Nowhere else in the world are there so many endemic bird species with so many countries in the region that fail to protect them, or that serve as exporters of non-native birds, such as Hong Kong and Singapore.
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