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A newly emerging trade in New Guinea’s butcherbirds (Cracticinae) in Indonesia

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Abstract

The very large demand for songbirds in Indonesia undermines the efforts of the Government of Indonesia to regulate and control harvest and trade. As more species become increasingly rare, new species are sought after and included in the trade to supply demand from hobbyists, traders and songbird competition participants. One such group of species is the butcherbirds. Four species of butcherbirds are native to Indonesia and prior to 2016 these birds were hardly found in trade. Since then, the trade has grown rapidly and during 57 surveys of bird markets in 12 cities on Java, Bali and Lombok, we recorded 235 butcherbirds. We found 43 advertisements online offering butcherbirds for sale. The highest numbers were recorded in the easternmost cities we surveyed (Mataram, 11.5 birds/survey; Denpasar 9.0 birds/survey) and we recorded higher numbers of butcherbirds for sale nearer to their natural distribution range. Compared to other species, butcherbirds command high prices (hooded butcherbird: US$185; black butcherbird: US$122). Despite the authorities attempting to regulate the exploitation of butcherbirds with annual harvest and trade quotas (set at zero for 2022), the trade evidently is challenging to control and may pose a threat to the conservation of these species in the wild.

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Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA) and the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo and Zoo Society for their support. We thank Loretta Shepherd, Rachel Boratto and two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments and edits.

Funding

This project was funded by the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA) and the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo and Zoo Society. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Monitor Conservation Research Society, BC, Big Lake Ranch, V0L 1G0, Canada

    Chris R. Shepherd & Boyd T. C. Leupen

  2. Oxford Wildlife Trade Research Group, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, OX3 0BP, UK

    Vincent Nijman, S. Sunny Nelson & Boyd T. C. Leupen

  3. Lincoln Park Zoo, Chicago, Illinois, 60614, USA

    S. Sunny Nelson

  4. Copenhagen Zoo, Frederiksberg, 2000, Denmark

    Simon Bruslund

  5. EAZA Silent Forest Group, Amsterdam, 1018 CZ, Netherlands

    Simon Bruslund

  6. IUCN SSC Asian Songbird Trade Specialist Group, Box 200, BC, Big Lake Ranch, V0L 1G0, Canada

    Chris R. Shepherd, Vincent Nijman, S. Sunny Nelson, Boyd T. C. Leupen & Simon Bruslund

Authors
  1. Chris R. Shepherd
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  2. Vincent Nijman
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  3. S. Sunny Nelson
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  4. Boyd T. C. Leupen
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Contributions

Chris R. Shepherd - data collection and analysis, writing and preparation of the manuscript for publication.Vincent Nijman - data collection and analysis, and writing of the manuscript. S. Sunny Nelson - data collection and analysis, and writing of the manuscript. Boyd T. C. Leupen - data collection and analysis, and writing of the manuscript. Simon Bruslund - data collection and analysis, and writing of the manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Chris R. Shepherd or Vincent Nijman.

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Ethical statement

Research was conducted in compliance with Monitor Conservation Research Society?s Code of Ethics, and while we did not require institutional permission for observational research in animal markets, they were added to Oxford Brookes University?s Register of Activities Involving Animals (2016?2023). Discussions with traders followed the ethical guidelines proposed by the Association of Social Anthropologists of the UK and Commonwealth. No identifiable information on individuals or businesses were collected during this study.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Shepherd, C.R., Nijman, V., Nelson, S.S. et al. A newly emerging trade in New Guinea’s butcherbirds (Cracticinae) in Indonesia. Eur J Wildl Res 70, 66 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10344-024-01816-0

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