By Dudi Nandika and Dwi Agustina | Directors, Konservasi Kakatua Indonesia
Dear Supporters,
Despite new government regulation and conservation efforts, the parrot trade is an ongoing issue in Indonesia, and better law enforcement and awareness campaigns are needed to conserve these species, involving government agencies and local stakeholders. The illegal wildlife trade, including parrot smuggling, is getting more sophisticated and more difficult to detect. Still, thanks to the dedication of our colleagues at the local authorities in the Maluku region (BKSDA), they have successfully confiscated 891 parrots from the illegal trade between 2016 and 2020.
Unfortunately, even after all endemic parrot species were declared protected in Indonesia in 2018, the trade of these birds have continued. Based on our investigations, in April 2019, about 450 wild animals were confiscated in Davau city, the Philippines, mainly containing parrots smuggled from Indonesia. BKSDA in Central Java successfully confiscated 47 Sulphur-crested Cockatoos from the Aru archipelago. In November 2020, 74 Black-capped Lories and Black Lories were found, smuggled in plastic bottles in Fakfak, West Papua. In January 2021, BKSDA Makassar confiscated 268 parrots in Soekarno-Hatta Harbor, including 211 Red Lories and 57 Rainbow Lorikeets from Namlea, Maluku. Just last month (in January 2022), 37 Red Lories were found in cardboard boxes and confiscated by the local police in the Bima harbour, West Nusa.
In order to break the trade chain, parrot awareness campaigns can help to actively encourage local people in the native distribution areas of these parrot species to stop poaching these birds. All these efforts should also be supported by law enforcement, giving a deterrent effect, as in the case with or collaborators at BKSDA. Conversations with local villagers and trappers are also important to understand their need, and to be able to offer them alternative livelihood programs. At Konservasi Kakatua Indonesia, we continue working on these issues locally, with the help of Wildlife Messengers and their crowdfunding this year.
We wanted to thank your important and continues support of our conservation work in Indonesia and wish you a successful 2022!
By Dudi Nandika, MSc | Director, Konservasi Kakatua Indonesia
By George Olah, PhD | Director, Wildlife Messengers
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