A new report from researchers with TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring organization, highlights the vast scale of Indonesia’s bird trade.
During three days in 2014, researchers counted more than 19,000 birds for sale in Pramuka and two other bird markets in Jakarta, representing more than 200 species. These markets are among the largest in Southeast Asia.
Prices ranged from 43 cents for a scaly-breasted munia, also known as a spice finch, to more than $4,200 for a scarlet macaw, the researchers found.
Among the most numerous birds they documented were Oriental white-eyes (small, yellow-green birds with rings of white around their eyes), Javan mynas, zebra doves, and greater green leafbirds, all native to Indonesia.
“We knew the scale of the trade through Jakarta’s bird markets was large,” said TRAFFIC spokesman Richard Thomas in an email. “But this report has highlighted just how immense it is.”
Birds are the most popular pet in Indonesia. More than a fifth of households have them, which (conservatively) comes out to around 2.6 million birds in captivity in the five biggest cities.
As a popular Javan saying goes, a man is considered to be a real man if he has a house, a wife, a horse, a keris (dagger), and a bird.
