Tragedy of the Javan song birds
Let me tell you a story, one which may upset you, I know it upset me when I first saw the BBC feature ‘Sold for a song’, which I suggest you should check out because they actually go to Java and show you these songbirds. (Asian fairy bluebird above photographed at Chester zoo)
Java is an island located in south east Asia, specifically Indonesia. The tropical paradise has over 141 million residents crammed inside its sprawling cities, making it the worlds most populated island, which is amazing when you hear that its size is comparable to England. The island also has over 450 species of birds, some endemic, which share the island with many more exotic animals. These two features coexist with difficulty. When the cities expand the Javan wildlife is forced or pushed away, the jungle is shaped and altered with great influence on the animals that rely on those habitats.
With the wildlife already under human pressure, some of the island’s population have taken advantage of one of the its resources, the beautiful songbirds that ignite the forests with noise.
The basis of this undertaking is simple, enter the forest and catch the birds that nest, walk back into the city and put the cage up for sale. There are even dedicated markets that sell the birds, like we would see a fruit and veg market, in Jarkata (the capital) the Pramuka Market is the largest wildlife market in the Asia. They have little red birds that sing for hours instead of apples and instead of oranges there are magnificent white and blue birds renowned for their song. Amongst the captive singers are the Java Sparrows and Javan green magpies, a bird that may only be 50-strong in the wild. This is the problem; the numbers of song birds are rapidly declining in Java.
Reports have found that up to 20,000 birds are sold in each day, between only 3 of Jakarta’s markets. Apparently, people commonly stroll down the markets to buy a bird as a gift for a lover, similar to how you might go out to buy your wife some flowers. And the birds are treated in the same way, left out on the side to sing, until eventually after about a week they pass away and are thrown out, only to be replaced a week later. This happens because typically, people don’t know how to treat these rare birds right, some zookeepers or welfare specialists spend their life trying to perfect captive conditions for species like this.
The important thing is that action is being taken, maybe not enough yet, but organisations like the BBC and our local Chester Zoo are raising awareness of this problem and are investigating the issues at its source.
Thank you for reading! We upload our own photos of these sorts of stunning animals on our instagram -> https://www.instagram.com/wildlife_op/