Bird smuggling second only to drug smuggling<\/p>\n
Theresia Sufa, Bogor<\/p>\n
A wildlife watchdog has revealed that bird smuggling is the
\nsecond largest crime in the country after drug trafficking in
\nterms of the number of cases.<\/p>\n
Executive of the Bogor-based Network Development Birdlife
\nIndonesia Yusup Cahyadin told The Jakarta Post on Monday the most
\npopular birds are cockatoos and parrots, which are smuggled
\noverseas from Tobelo Halmahera district, North Maluku.<\/p>\n
\"The birds are taken directly off the island by fishing boats
\nfrom Singapore and the Philippines. The Eastern Naval Fleet has
\nbeen unable to curb the crime, maybe because their surveillance
\narea is too vast,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Yusup, who has been working in the island district for many
\nyears, further said that locals captured the birds by order from
\ntheir natural habitat in the forest.<\/p>\n
\"In return, the locals are paid with soap or liquors.\"<\/p>\n
A cockatoo sells for Rp 15,000 (US$1.67) to Rp 20,000 on the
\ndomestic market, but, according to Yusup, it can go for up to
\n$1,000 in foreign markets.<\/p>\n
Yusup said some birds were smuggled as air cargo, but this
\nmethod was more costly because the birds have to be rendered
\nunconscious before they are each packed in a bottle.<\/p>\n
It is suspected that organized smuggling networks in Singapore
\nand the Philippines prepare the appropriate documents to export
\nthe birds to destination markets in European countries, and the
\ngovernment has been trying to enlist the neighboring countries'
\nparticipation in the battle against the smuggling of protected
\nwildlife.<\/p>\n
Next month, the Directorate for Conservation and Biodiversity
\nof the office of the State Minister of the Environment will hold
\na bilateral dialog on bird smuggling with the Filipino government
\nand NGOs.<\/p>\n
There are 14 types of protected cockatoos, including the great
\nsulfur-crested cockatoo (Cacatua galleria) and sulfur-crested
\ncockatoo (Cacatua sulphurea), white-colored goffin (Cacatua
\ngoffini) and salmon-crested cockatoo (Cacatua molucensis), all of
\nwhich are indigenous to the islands of eastern Indonesia,
\nincluding Maluku.<\/p>\n
Protected parrot species include red-and-blue lorry (Eos
\nhistrio), yellow-backed lorry (Lorius eclectus\/roratus), black-
\ncapped lorry (Lorius lory) and black-lored parrot (Tanygnathus
\nSumatranus).<\/p>\n
The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species
\n(CITES) of Wild Flora and Fauna stipulates that protected avian
\nspecies can be traded only if they originated from breeding
\nfacilities, not directly from nature.<\/p>\n
While Law No. 5\/1999 on conservation of biodiversity and
\necosystem, traders and owners of protected animals face up to
\nfive years in jail and\/or a Rp 100 million (US$11,200) fine, the
\nlaw has not been stringently enforced, and endangered bird and
\nanimal species can be seen on display openly at street-side
\nmarkets in the capital and other major cities.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/bird-smuggling-second-only-to-drug-smuggling-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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