4,000 people arrested in 32 countries for wild bird trade

[Mortisha]

4,000 people arrested in an operation across 32 countries coordinated by INTERPOL against the illegal trade and exploitation of birds.

http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com ... -in-birds/

[ColouredFeathers]

Good

[Mortisha]

Wild birds 'smuggled through Solomon Islands' 17th July 2012

More than 54,000 wild birds, including critically endangered species, were laundered through the Solomon islands into the global wildlife trade between 2000 and 2010, a wildlife group said Tuesday.

The birds, classified as "captive-bred" to skirt wildlife trafficking laws and in the main not native to the islands, were exported mostly to Singapore and Malaysia from where they were sold to other parts of the world, TRAFFIC said in a report.

"Between 2000 and 2010, more than 54,000 birds, mainly parrots and cockatoos, were imported from the Solomon Islands and declared as captive-bred," said the report, launched in Singapore.

"Yet local authorities confirmed to TRAFFIC that the Solomon Islands is not known to have substantial bird breeding facilities," it added.

TRAFFIC said Singapore and Malaysia accounted for 93 percent of all birds imported from Solomon Islands between 2000 and 2010.

Malaysia however has suspended its bird imports and TRAFFIC is urging Singapore to do the same.

"Singapore should follow Malaysia's lead in suspending bird imports, not only from the Solomon Islands but anywhere else if there is a lack of clarity as to their legal origin," said TRAFFIC's Southeast Asia deputy director Chris Shepherd.

The birds included vulnerable, endangered and critically endangered species such as the Yellow-crested Cockatoo, which cannot be traded under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna, or CITES.

In addition, a majority of the birds were not native to the Solomon Islands but are found in Indonesia or Papua New Guinea.

The absence of records showing the Solomon Islands had imported the birds indicated that they had been caught in the wild, TRAFFIC said.

Shepherd said the smugglers were deceiving authorities to gain access to the global pet trade.

"Declaring exported birds as being captive-bred has all the hallmarks of a scam to get around international trade regulations," he said in the report.

[Ripley]

http://www.traffic.org/species-reports/ ... irds17.pdf

Hello All,

This I found interesting, when I came across it.....

Cheers
Ripley

[desertbirds]

4,000 people arrested in an operation across 32 countries coordinated by INTERPOL against the illegal trade and exploitation of birds.

http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com ... -in-birds/

Good job, but the people in the pics holding cages are hardly the bloody masterminds of the operation are they. ???? And where are the pics of all 4000 arrests. ???

[desertbirds]

Ive said it before and im happy to say it again - 'im happy with the laws and controls we do have, when things go pear shaped it seems to take an awful long time for several investigating bodies to put out a report and make a graph and arrest the offenders'.

[Diane]

This kind of problem needs to be tackled from both ends. Huge fines for those Western civilization (term loosely applied) buyers and some social welfare for the people who, judging from the pics dont have a lot of other options to keep body and soul together.

[E Orix]

This type of trade has been going on for years. Back in the 80's I can remember being offered 7 types of Birds of Paradise(true pairs and not on show to visitors)while visiting a clearing house in Singapore. In those days there was a total ban on exports from PNG so they were smuggled out through Indonesia
At the same time they had just received a shipment of some 500 Cardinals from Sth America.Their suppliers were located world wide.
In those days it was bad enough but today the problem is far greater due to demand. The demand I was told was from China in particular for the single pet trade which makes it very bad indeed.The importer/export had an open order for 20,000 African Grey Parrots even he said that the breeders world wide and trapping from the wild couldn't get anywhere near the demand.
The greatest threat to the worlds avian population is the pet trade(not the breeders),they are just consumables,when they die they are simply replaced and the wild population just won't survive.While there is demand there will be a market,it can be limited by the receiving countries making it harder to import,it will create a black market but it will limit imports. There is little chance of stopping trapping as the people doing the trapping are generally poor and struggling to
survive.Sadly too many countries just don't care or maybe too many palms are greased

[jnorriss]

I have a different take on all of this having lived and worked in third world countries around the world. My view is that more and more regulations have negative effect and what is needed are controls that allow a sensible trade in flora and fauna. I have seen this in South Africa where private game keepers are allowed to keep animals like lions for game. Whilst it is upsetting and I have a problem with the likes of the King of Spain paying $80.000 to shoot one rather than the private game keeper it does mean than animals like that have a commercial value and so are being maintained. The South Africans have regulations that mean the animals have to be kept for a number of years before they can be shot so keepers have to maintain a stock. I believe NT has a system of rewarding farmers to keep land virgin for black cockatoos and wanted to be able to export them in a controlled manner but the Federal Government would not allow it and so smuggling goes on with big money changing hands. The lesson is that prohibition does not work.

The issue is how to reward the poor souls who depend on this trade to make a living. I believe we should take a leaf from the coffee growers who in the main have created a market for ethical coffee production that sees local growers make a decent living. Controls that place limits on numbers and make the reward for a single bird higher to a local trapper and exported through a licensed dealer that can be policed by an international body seems to me a better way to go. Similarly imports should go via a licensed and reputable dealer. At least that way bird enthusiasts have the chance to keep a variety of birds and dare I say even provide a method of conserving birds

My other thought is that if trade was able to be done legitimately the avicultural community might feel more disposed to shop suspicious birds rather than keep mum because they are tempted by the chance of owning a bird or that the bird police will end on their door because they dobbed someone in.

Sorry for the rant but by I am over all the regulations that end up being counter productive....and not just the bird trade

[finchbreeder]

"Controls that place limits on numbers and make the reward for a single bird higher to a local trapper and exported through a licensed dealer that can be policed by an international body seems to me a better way to go. Similarly imports should go via a licensed and reputable dealer."
If this could be done in a way that restricts exports/imports accross borders to common species that would not risk reducing the populations to unsafe levals. It would indeed have the potential to provide employment and wider access to birds that may be rare in countries other than their place of origin.
LML