Bird hobby impacts on birds in the wild

By Paul Jepson and Farquhar Stirling

JAKARTA (JP): The popular Indonesian pastime of bird-keeping may be having serious impacts on wild populations of native songbirds. Hundreds of thousand of these birds are traded in Indonesia's five major cities according to a recent survey.

As part of a wider household survey conducted by ACNielsen in August this year, people were asked if they kept a pet and, if a bird, how many of what species they kept, and from where their birds were acquired.

Our survey, which interviewed a random sample of 1,740 adults in the major cities, confirms that bird-keeping is a central part of Indonesian life. Birds are the most popular pet and kept by nearly one in five homes.

In the Javanese heartland city of Semarang almost every third family keeps a bird. These figures equate to about 785,000 homes. If we consider that the five cities -- Jakarta, Medan, Bandung, Semarang and Surabaya -- account for only a quarter of Indonesia's 80 million urban population then several million people keep birds. The average number of birds kept per household is three and the average time a bird is kept is two years three months. No need to reach for a calculator to conclude there are enormous numbers of birds in cages and that turnover is high!

In Javanese culture a bird in a cage signifies the importance of a hobby in a balanced life. At its heart this love of bird- keeping as a hobby revolves around a sophisticated appreciation of bird song, form and coloration and is an expression of the nobler aesthetic qualities of human nature.

By far the most popular birds are the perkutut (Graceful dove) and tekukur (spot-necked dove), whose gentle coo's imbue neighborhoods with a sense of tranquility.

Next are the kutilang (Bulbul), still common wayside and garden birds in Java which have pleasant tinkling calls. These are followed by the real songsters which are all rarer and more expensive.

Poksay (Laughing-thrushes), imported from China, increased in popularity when the government banned public song contests among native birds because of worries about trade in native songbirds. Nevertheless thousands of homes still keep the traditional favorites: cucak rawa (straw-headed bulbul), Murai batu (white- rumped Shama and Kucica (magpie robins). Also in the top 10 are parrots, imported from east Indonesia which are kept for their color rather than their song.

The bird-keeping hobby is centuries old and started in times when nature (territory and habitats) was vast and impacts on wild populations hardly conceivable. This is no longer the case.

Demand for birds is growing in line with a burgeoning and increasingly affluent population, but wild bird populations are increasingly threatened by habitat loss, pesticides and human persecution. It would be ironic and tragic if species were pushed to extinction in the wild because people love to keep them in their homes.

Many conservationists worry that the hobby is a major cause of declines in native bird populations throughout western Indonesia.

Nothing could put this into sharper focus than the recent shocking theft of 39 rare Bali starlings from a captive breeding program in the West Bali National Park. The birds were snatched by an armed gang in a violent raid, and are no doubt headed for private collections.

There are five broad groups of birds kept as pets. Domestic species like budgies and canaries. Commercially bred native species, predominantly doves. Imported songbirds, mainly the laughing thrushes from Indochina. Wild caught native songbirds and wild caught native parrots. The last three of these are the "conservation concern" groups because these birds mainly originate from the wild.

Our survey shows large numbers of pet birds changing hands. More than half of the households surveyed said they bought their birds from bird markets and it is reasonable to assume these birds come from the wild.

A significant proportion of homes receive birds as a gift, which is consistent with our knowledge that travelers to the provinces like to take home birds as a souvenir. For example, 48 percent of households keeping a talking myna said they received it as a gift. Data from the provincial conservation office in East Kalimantan reveals that more than 1,000 souvenir permits are being issued for this species each year.

There is a clear correlation between keeping bird species in the three conservation concern groups with income and age group. Higher income groups and people in the 40 to 50 year age group (the hobby years!) keep more native songbirds, parrots and imported wild-caught laughing thrushes.

Lower income homes mainly keep doves and pigeons which are commercially bred. In short, birds caught in the wild are a consumer and status item in Indonesia.

The higher income and older households, who are also better educated, should be the initial target of messages emphasizing the fact that wild birds are a very finite resource, and one that is declining fast in Indonesia. Until now the message that natural habitats are shrinking in extent and that native bird populations are limited and declining, appears not to have permeated into the urban population.

There is no need for this love of bird-keeping to be a major threat to wild bird populations. All the popular species can be bred in captivity. The market for songbirds is massive suggesting that commercial breeding of these species would make a sound business proposition. ACNielsen advertising expenditure data shows that "bird farms", mainly breeding doves and pigeons, are surprisingly high spenders on magazine advertising, again emphasizing the potential size of this market.

In our view the challenge is not increased regulation, but the building of ethical consumerism among bird hobbyists. If hobbyists refused to buy birds captured in the wild and instead insisted on proof that birds for sale were bred in captivity, the market would respond. Species such as the straw-headed bulbul, yellow-crested cockatoo and orange-headed ground thrush are close to extinction in many parts of their former range. The fate of these species lies as much with the awareness and attitudes of the urban middle classes as it does with government enforcement.

Paul Jepson is a consultant to Birdlife International -- Indonesia Program. Farquhar Stirling is with ACNielsen, Indonesia's largest market research company.