Inside the Illegal Songbird Trade in Indonesia

There are few birds more colorful or with a more beautiful song than the Javan green magpie. Unfortunately, this beauty has led the birds to be captured and sold illegally into the songbird trade in Indonesia for singing competitions or as pets. Conservationists from the Chester Zoo went undercover to document the scope of the issues and ultimately staged a rescue. Today, these birds are bred at the zoo for release in the wild to boost their at-risk populations.
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The ones in Jakarta, particularly the one called Pramuka bird market, which is actually the biggest wildlife market on the planet, is a really depressing place to visit actually as someone who's a bird lover.
The songbird black market is immense. It's across every border. It's across the globe.
Unless we can control and stop the illegal wildlife trade with these songbirds, the inevitable result is going to be the extinction of multiple species across Southeast Asia.... These forests really are falling silent.
#birds #aviation #illegalwildlife trade #wildlife #wildcrime #seeker #nature #conservation
Read More:
Sing For Songbirds | Chester Zoo
“All over Indonesia the forests are falling silent because the songbirds that once lived there are threatened by extinction. We’re facing a crisis because these beautiful, remarkable and rare birds are being captured and trapped by local people to be used either in singing competitions or kept in cages as a status symbol.”
www.chesterzoo.org/news/sing-...
Songbirds are disappearing from the wild - here's why
“There are more songbirds in captivity than in the wild on the Indonesian island of Java, research by Manchester Metropolitan University and Chester Zoo has found. One-third of the island’s population keep birds as ornamental pets or, in the songbird’s case, as contestants in birdsong competitions for cash prizes.”
geographical.co.uk/nature/wil...
Indonesian songbird crisis
“The trade in songbirds is estimated to be worth tens of millions of dollars to the Indonesian economy, so it is no surprise that it is a key regional source of both supply and demand for songbirds, with hundreds of markets running across the archipelago, selling more than 200 different species - the majority of which are native to Indonesia.”
theecologist.org/2019/oct/02/...
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Across the globe, elephants are poached for their tusks, pangolins for their scales, and totoaba fish for their bladders. Tackling the fourth largest crime industry in the world isn’t easy, but biologists, roboticists, detectives and even NASA scientists are getting creative in the hopes of making a difference. In this Seeker series, we’ll investigate true stories of wildlife crime and meet the people who are working to protect the world’s most endangered and persecuted animals.
Visit the Seeker website www.seeker.com
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Seeker on Twitter / seeker

[@muhmalikali]

I live near the Pramuka Bird Market, and it has been around for years. Sadly, until now I haven't seen any action from the government. Even when I was passing by the market, some of the sellers said that the birds being sold were entrusted by government people.

[@salgadovalerio]

Who buys these birds? What is the demographic? Locals or also foreigners from developed countries?

[@MrWillypanda88]

It was supported as local culture sadly.... As fellow Indonesian, yes, this also saddens me

[@deepstariaenigmatica2601]

@@salgadovalerio if it's being sold in 3rd world countries, it's probably people abroad or wealthy ppl in general buying them

[@WaterspoutsOfTheDeep]

If the people and government was smart they would protect the birds as a national treasure and resource. Develop breeding programs to sell the birds to the public and other countries and some extra birds released into the wild to restore population over time. Everyone wins then. The climate allows for large aviaries outside or even use islands for breeding different species since it's a island nation with many small islands all over. No predators on small island and food brought in would keep population on island. Could easily farm large populations of rare birds on different small islands. Easy security with radar and satellite for coast guard to come when boat enters restricted zone.

[@muhmalikali]

@@WaterspoutsOfTheDeep This is what I need, and that's a great idea. It's just that there needs to be a willingness from the community and government for this program to be successful. Did you know that in Indonesia there is a new law that allows cutting down forests, even protected forest areas. It hurts the conservationists, a lot of people, and me.

[@amaljoe367]

Imagine a morning without hearing birds chirping outside our windows 😓

[@muhmalikali]

It will be a terrifying experience for me

[@lasit3017]

Gruesome

[@sanzo_tsuda]

keeping songbirds in captivity has its cultural roots for hundreds of years especially in Java, taking care of them and listening to their voice gives some calming effect. still, birds are free roaming creature and we should let them be.

[@tvm-manducktv8375]

Please see my KZbin😊

[@spookayitsme]

That little birdie at 0:24 that was tied up and trying to peck off the string it was tied up with, so sad 😢

[@user-bp8yg3ko1r]

The new animation at the end of the video is extremely beautiful.

[@KristinaTravelina]

what a beauty, but I think it would be better if they lived in freedom

[@yellosun8818]

Obviously... ?!?

[@lolhyena1714]

Cows pigs and chickens would love to live in freedom too.

[@sic8124]

@@lolhyena1714 you too

[@shidiqaerith8038]

I'm ashamed that I can't do anything for it yet it's everywhere, and I don't understand why they really want to keep it rob their freedom, I'm very embarrassed as an indonesian

[@cyrdea]

Profit, and yes if u don't have wealth u cant do anything about it ( yes I'm indonesian too)

[@rakeantl6730]

Same

[@electronresonator8882]

if you raise a bird like a chicken, they will simply fly away

[@nonothingnever]

START A PETITION, I'm seeing so many commenters here claiming to be Indonesian and wanting the illegal wildlife trade to end but they don't do anything about it. Yes, I realize this endeavour would be much easier with money, fame, and power but it's not impossible. It's better to do something and try rather than just give up, letting these poor birds suffer.

[@cyrdea]

@@nonothingnever well, if that can work we ald do it (Indonesia have an unique law)

[@harikrishnan.s719]

And people still promotes these buying them..it's literally cage to cage for them

[@digitalnation2876]

there is a lot of money here, I have an indon friend, earns about $60k a month from hunting birds.

[@harikrishnan.s719]

@@digitalnation2876 It's very sad,,, hunting, climate change,, everything has resulted in drop of their population.

[@defendmoon6813]

@@harikrishnan.s719 Sadly it's all about the Money....

[@tvm-manducktv8375]

(●´ω｀●)Please see my KZbin

[@anthropomorphizedrock]

I’m glad the focus is to find alternative vocations for these people. Sounds incredibly difficult if the competition is rumored prizes of a house or sports car

[@calambuhayjr.josevirgiliog2094]

First step: "STOP THE BIRD SINGING COMPETITION"

[@midnight8341]

Or you could have licenced breeders and the need for certification to participate in the contest, like for every other animal contest, too. If you want to participate in a dog show and present your dog as breed x, then you need to have the proper certification to show that your dog is indeed breed x. With modern day tech we could do even more and put genetic markers in the eggs of those songbirds, so that they can be tested prior to the competition. No way to cheat on that. There are ways to do these competitions in an animal friendly way. But it's always the government who has to step in first.

[@lolhyena1714]

Don’t be a Hypocrite protect all animals. Cows pigs and chickens

[@jsuprayetno]

Kayak gini nih yg harusnya trending di youtube Indonesia.. Jarang jarang rasanya seeker bahas konservasi alam, di Indonesia lagi ini Btw kalo cucak rowo itu basa enggresnya apa ya? Temenku ada ternak cucak rowo dah sepuluh taun bisa buat biaya kuliahnya tuh

[@Belidut76]

Nama spesies: Cucak Rowo (Straw-headed bulbul) Nama ilmiah: _Pycnonotus_ _zeylanicus_

[@Belidut76]

Sumber: Wikipedia

[@jsuprayetno]

👍

[@SaUrAvNeil]

Sky became silent Land bacame silent Water became silent A time will come when earth will become silent

[@electronresonator8882]

Mars : "but don't you guys love that photo of my lands"

[@vaibhavarya6608]

Birds have wings pls let them fly

[@VariantAEC]

@@TylerTron21 Because the majority of livestock farms don't look like the ones activists visit and we eat the meat of the animals living on those farms. Those animals graze on the land openly in many cases which is why the livestock farms take up so much space. *TYPICALLY* the atrocities we wind up seeing take place at processing facilities. While animals who are going to be slaughtered for our food shouldn't be tortured in their final hours they *didn't LIVE like that.* _The comparison is_ *USUALLY* _disingenuous._

[@morkovija]

Oh hey, new logo! Nice. Glad the content quality was not affected

[@mahfoozmiah2008]

I wouldn’t buy one but might consider after watching this video... nice to see you trying to preserve the species

[@SalvadorYanezRuiz]

Wonderful piece

[@rajendrakhanvilkar9362]

Great video

[@aptorres01]

Great wrk guys thank you

[@twothreebravo]

I'm gravely concerned about the potential for zoonotic disease transmission in these bird markets when you have dozens of different bird species in such close proximity.

[@James42_]

Last time I was this early, that beautiful profile pic still there....

[@Stinkys8050]

Birds belong in the skies, not in your living room!

[@alparslankorkmaz2964]

Nice video.

[@rinjinnoko]

My uncle is keeping a few, I never thought much about it, but this vid makes me sad for those birds.

[@Michelle-qq4sd]

Wow! 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

[@user-bp8yg3ko1r]

I hope someone will set all of them free, I feel sorry for every trapped bird...

[@WaterspoutsOfTheDeep]

Little children are trafficked all over there, so why would they care about birds? Some cultures value life less than others.

[@RuskiWaffle]

I once kept a few pets that I bought in some market and one of them was a fire salamander. Unfortunately it died after like a few months. If I were to keep pets, I wouldn't be placing them in cages or anything too small, I would instead try my best to replicate their ecosystem or just set them free. I still have my birds but this video convinced me that I should just set them free instead of keeping them in this small, cramped cage they are currently in. I never knew what I was doing is completely wrong for the animals but the Philippines doesn't care.

[@badhrihari1705]

Nice logo

[@JawadKhan-dn8ip]

I love bird market

[@mahfoozmiah2008]

Am buying one now soo cool

[@mahfoozmiah2008]

@@trtworld6737 how About you invest with me

[@infring1]

any one know what that bird at 2:01 is ?

[@badminews_cn]

Sangat menyedihkan liat burung seperti itu.

[@anasjauharmuttaqin280]

Poor bird

[@jtackerman28]

Asia doing what Asia does best.

[@guillaume5313]

New design looking sleek!!

[@electronresonator8882]

the thing is people also refuse to let their pet fish swim around in a lake or sea, ...and people who pet ants also refuse to let them walk around on a hill...therefore these bird keepers also refuse to let their pet birds fly in the sky....pidgeon is the exception for this kind of pet

[@just_a_guy9688]

There's no exception for keeping any vertebrates in small confined areas at all, not even pigeons.

[@AzlianaLyana]

They deserve to fly free, not in the cage🙁

[@vIBEDoUT-Channel]

Someone's icon had a makeover

[@robsin2810]

Nothing should be caged.

[@maemilev]

*Majority of buyers come from singapore.*

[@putraadam7996]

Damn, my father once had one of them

[@juleswild9498]

Barbaric and despicable 🤬

[@arthurmorgan6087]

These people do it bc they are poor

[@Querenciatv]

We Like 👍 it ❤️&✌️

[@maheshrathod204]

Seeker change the logo of it ☺️☺️

[@salgadovalerio]

The video did not answer a key question for me in the framework of the problem. Where is the demand for this trade? Is it only the local bird keepers that participate in singing contests? I doubt very much so, Indonesia is an extremely poor country, the locals cannot be the origin of demand in scale necessary for supporting the whole trade. If I would take a wild guess, I would say this trade (which spots the largest wildlife market on the globe) caters to an international demand, mostly from keepers from Europe/UK/US. What is being done to stop this demand? If the conservationists attack only the supply this is a useless effort.

[@abcddef2112]

As far as I know mostly from personal research. It is mostly local. Most keep birds as pastime tradition, while some actually do keep it for competitions. It is actually illegal to import out the bird (some do try), so as much as you think Indonesia is poor. There is a history of local industry of bird keeping, breeding and competitions especially if you know or read ancient javanese texts. These guys are not poor, and sadly keeping this birds are investments. People buy the competition winners and breed them and then sell their offsprings. Like they do dogs in the west, most have associations too.

[@crowsquared]

I kinda want to release a couple hadedas into those markets. Seriously tho, this isn’t nice seeing these birds like this.

[@Argentvs]

Put all of these people in cages and feed them as long as they sing non stop.

[@therealgrimreaper68]

These babies need to be taken home and released asap

[@sagarnalawade1036]

Humanity is the root of all the problems.

[@ununoctiu]

we need to start by ending any kind of competition involving these or any other birds... if you want competitions compete with humans vs humans..leave animals alone, they don't care about our stupid competitions....that way the market for these birds will decrease and they'll be able to be free..

[@abcddef2112]

Lol there are many animal competitions in the west. Actually any competition is human vs human. This competition is who have the most ‘beautiful’ singing bird, as he said they actually do breed these animals. These birds are basicly on the border of being domesticated and wild. Unfortunately or fortunately as the economy is develop and the habitat shrink like as you seen in the west. These people will be keeping the genomes alive. As seen domestication is actually a reproductive success for many animals.

[@akshaiambro702]

Why isn't Indonesia legislating aginst these obvious extinctions.

[@idontthinkso2431]

Ketika gw nanya ke temen, kenapa gemar burung mahal, dijawab: "Lha namanya hobi."

[@tvm-manducktv8375]

Please see my KZbin🦆🦆🦆

[@anshumanbehera7245]

Why your channel is getting less views????? Just reply

[@indrejeetmilwar]

In 2020 lockdown everybody is a 🐦

[@peacekeeper9919]

Hi

[@harkiranonline]

Time for sequel to RIO and Angry Birds

[@aljo.antony]

Beauty is a curse.

[@bletz421]

Wow we need to protect them and if anything breed em so theres more

[@tanbanz9184]

I pretty sure i saw birds from south texas

[@jeyakumarbonifas246]

Need to push the government to stop these markets!!

[@yoshyoka]

Would be easy to dismiss them as bastards, yet unfortunately when you are poor, conservation of the environment takes the back seat.

[@RanggaIndonesia]

depressing!!!

[@StrumVogel]

The government needs to crack down on these poachers and the poachers needs to get re-educated and learn new skill to feed themselves.

[@americanv8ss]

Volume too low!

[@raichu6269]

🧐🤔

[@subhamkatre2239]

Be bird watcher reather than being bird keeper 🙏🏼

[@lolhyena1714]

Don’t forget to be a cow watcher a pig watcher and a chicken watcher. Humans(hypocrisy)

[@azrielmoha6877]

​@@lolhyena1714 birds are not domesticated species. These birds are wild species, not built as pets.

[@ninja1antelope]

Wide open… in front of the government… And a country full of anti wildlife….why go there? Those who throw the contest should be fined

[@SkipMichael]

So... who buys the birds???

[@healslime5411]

Gue termasuk orang kampung minoritas yang menganggap burung lebih enak didengar jika di pohon..bukan di kandang. Liat burung di kandang malah depresi.

[@rinjinnoko]

Nyekit2 suarae kyk ngerintih

[@picklejarb0b50]

Average bird enthusiast

[@mrblueberry4864]

Inchresting new logo

[@erikszardeckiss997]

WHY do the destroy ecosistoms

[@tramsgar]

Bring them internet and they'll be occupied by more bird-safe idiocy

[@untariputrie182]

. Aq dari indonesia

[@wolfdenranjeet]

WTF WHY SELLING WOODPECKERS

[@TheyCallMeNewb]

It certainly comes naturally to scorn the trappers and co. But maybe we are as out in our criticism as we would be if investment bankers were in the West targeted for rebuke. After all, they can and often do wrought greater and more farther reaching damages in their pursuit of a vaguely defined 'more', than does any black market bird operator. Selfish and myopic greed can be more or less manifest, but wherever present, we should expect corruption.

[@nishi3154]

Why their goverment didn do anything?are they scared?

[@poporikishin4922]

the official is the one who behind this operation. im not indonesian but im living in a 3rd world country. U dont need to be a genius to figure it out if u live in a 3rd world country, its the reason why its 3rd world to begin with because of the government like to preserve being 3rd world forever

[@poporikishin4922]

@@babayada2015 i basically live in a 3rd world country we wish we live in a 1st world country.

[@poporikishin4922]

@@babayada2015 then tell me that a government official is not behind this operation why they can catch those bird and sell them in a bird shop and tag them green ring type on there feet. if government deemed so they can eradicate it. like what the government did to orcas they hunt them to extinction i can show you a document about it since i dont know world politic kid. also living in a 3rd world is not something to brag but to be ashamed of because of the government.

[@poporikishin4922]

@Ryo Veda P i dont know about your country but its your problem but the fact is the fact the song bird is decreasing. your country your problem since i have 0 knowledge to your country hope u guys stop those poacher and not end up like dodobirds.

[@abcddef2112]

@@poporikishin4922 As much as the birds are endangered. They are not seen as pests like the dodo. So no they will not ends up like dodo.

[@lichenporifera8784]

Potential new pandemic outbreak in Indonesia.

[@Skaro90]

The birds are beautiful, but why do you guys have that new profile picture. I at least liked the former better.

[@RobertoCarlosM]

We really are the worst

[@MAxAMILLIoN757]

New logo is terrible

[@sammcgregor1868]

First like

[@priyag6806]

One day I'm gonna make a lot of money and go to these places and buy all of them and buy a big forest and cage the whole forest and release all of the birds in that caged forest the forest is actually to stop people from getting in them

[@RudyRigor]

Duet song in night club

[@riopratamamartin7870]

Talk about embarrasement

[@Wang785]

Yeeey I First Comment!

[@farnsworth111]

Sanctions

[@tvm-manducktv8375]

Please see my KZbin🦆🦆🐈

[@questocd174]

My initial thoughts, having not seen the video yet is "who bloody cares?"

[@FreedomAnderson]

Everyone should.

[@questocd174]

You either care about animals or you don't, I guess. I give a rat's you know what given all of the human problems we have going on in the world.

[@harrycameron-wade4029]

We are the problem mate. If ya can’t see that you’re just adding to the problem, open your eyes

[@digitalnation2876]

@@harrycameron-wade4029 agreed,