A single blue-naped parrot has a use value of up to P185, 981 over the course of its lifetime. Killing and keeping illegally acquired parrots is prohibited by RA [Republic Act] 9147, or the Wildlife Resources Conservation and Protection Act,” the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) posted on its Facebook page on May 22.
Native parrots are not the only bird species under grave threat because of habitat loss and hunting for the live bird trade. Most birds in the Philippines are.
In a recent online lecture on the live bird trade in the country organized by the Wild Bird Club of the Philippines, Emerson Sy, a wildlife trade specialist, said that illegal wildlife trade is a multi-billion industry.
Globally, he said, illegal wildlife trade is a $10 billion to $25 billion industry.
The live bird trade, he said, worsened during the pandemic with the myna and parrot topping the list of birds being traded locally.
Big industry
“Apparently, the Philippines is losing $1 billion a year due to illegal wildlife trade,” Sy said.
The illegal wildlife trade has also given birth to another industry—the manufacture and sale of a variety of hunting tools, traps and snares developed to catch wild animals.
Like wildlife, these tools are now being traded through social media platforms.
This is not surprising, Sy said, because of the popularity of social media platforms. The number of Facebook users in the Philippines is expected to reach 88 million by 2025, according to Sy.
Bird trade hotspots
Palawan and Mindoro in the Mimaropa region are among the illegal wildlife trade “hotspots” for the live bird trade.
Grace Diamante, executive director of the Mindoro Biodiversity Conservation Foundation Inc., told the BusinessMirror through Messenger that she is aware of the rampant illegal wildlife trade that targets native birds in Mindoro.
“The DENR, PNP [Philippine National Police], DA [Department of Agriculture] and other relevant agencies should work hand in hand to strengthen legal framework to establish a law enforcement chain, strengthen port monitoring and increase awareness of the adverse effect of this illegal activity,” Diamante said.
Sought for comment, Indira Dayang Dayang Lacerna-Widdman, executive director of the Palawan-based Katala Foundation Inc. (KFI), confirmed to the BusinessMirror via Messenger that the population of the native parrot population is declining in Palawan.
“The main reasons are habitat destruction and poaching for the pet trade,” she said.
She said that Palawan has the global stronghold of the katala, or the red-vented cockatoo, and has the highest density also of the blue-naped parrots, the reason why it is targeted by poachers.
“Philippine cockatoo has been protected by KFI and local partners [wildlife wardens, LGUs [local government units], DENR and PCSDS [Palawan Council for Sustainable Development] in the past, and poaching has been prevented or much reduced in the various project sites,” she said.
Mostly poached in Palawan are blue-naped parrots which are still widespread in the province but threatened by habitat destruction and the illegal pet trade.
Global problem
Asean Centre of Biodiversity Executive Director Theresa Mundita S. Lim said the problem of live bird trade is not unique to the Philippines as it is happening in other parts of the world. In Southeast Asia, poaching or hunting of birds is also a serious problem.
“Most birds we confiscated before were for the pet trade. They would be the psittacins [parrots, cockatoos and macaws from South America]. There are also studies of demand for songbirds from Asia,” Lim told the BusinessMirror through Messenger on June 8.
“On August 2019, a man was caught smuggling 814 birds using a Malaysia-registered bus into Singapore through Woodlands Checkpoint. The smuggled birds were kept in 15 containers stored in modified compartments by the bus’ rear tires,” she said.
Popular pets
Lim, a former director of the DENR-Biodiversity Management Bureau, said birds are popular pets because of their beauty. Their colorful feathers, their ability to mimic humans like the “talking” mynas and cockatoos, or their beautiful “singing” voice like the orioles and sparrows, make them very much in demand.
Occasionally these birds would be poached or hunted for food like tikling [buff-banded rail] and megapod, or as a trophy in the case of the Philippine eagle, according to Lim.
Even though there are laws against poaching birds, she said it persists mainly because of difficulty in enforcement.
The illegal wildlife trade is also prevalent, she said, because of poverty and the lack of livelihood opportunities for communities living in and around bird habitats. This, plus the lack of awareness on the long-lasting impact of the depleting bird population, make illegal wildlife trade a bigger problem.
Lim said the insufficient incentives for protection, and sometimes, the fees and penalties outweighing the potential revenue from the illegal wildlife trade, are not helping stop the impunity.
Bird watching
The Wild Bird Club of the Philippines, a group founded on July 14, 2003, continues to advocate the protection and conservation of birds.
From 14 bird enthusiasts who founded the group on Facebook, the club now has close to 200 members all of whom are avid bird watchers.
“We started as an e-group called Birdwatch Philippines, and eventually were ‘forced’ to formalize the group as we cannot approach government agencies or other organizations and identify ourselves as an e-group,” Mike Lu, the club’s president, told the BusinessMirror through e-mail on June 8.
Creating a database
Lu said that besides birdwatching, members play an important role in helping create a database of bird sightings.
He noted that while the club is mainly a recreational birdwatching group, members get to learn about habitats, the ecosystems and the importance of conserving such ecosystems.
“Club activities are for fun and nature appreciation. Education and conservation are natural outcomes of these activities,” he said.
According to Lu, it was in 2000 when he got hooked on birds after chancing upon the book, “Complete Guide to Birds of the Philippines,” at a bookstore.
“I started looking for green spaces in the metropolis where birds can be seen. I also started to look for other birdwatchers and found a few and we would go out and list what we saw and, thus, started the bird sightings records for Metro Manila. Eventually, we started birdwatching outside the city and also recording what we have seen,” he said
“It is exciting that we are building a database of bird sightings because no one else in the country is doing it, not even the DENR or the academe,” he said.
Benefits of bird watching
Lu said bird watching has many benefits. Members of the group get to enjoy bird watching in different places, help organize activities like bird festivals and are invited in talks.
“For me, it is a form of relaxation, a form of instilling discipline and patience. It fulfills my desire of traveling and discovering new places. It also provides an opportunity to make new friends not just in my country but all over the world,” he said.
He added: “I have always been fascinated with wildlife. Growing up, I was disappointed that there are no herds of antelopes or zebras when we go to the countryside. We do not even have rabbits or squirrels in our gardens. I thought the Philippines was so poor we do not even have any wildlife here.”
Unique bird-watching site
According to Lu, while the Philippines is a biodiversity hotspot, it still makes a unique bird-watching site.
“In terms of bird species, more than 30 percent of the over 700 species found in the Philippines are [endemic to the country],” he said.
He pointed out, however, that problems like habitat destruction through illegal logging, slash-and-burn farming and destructive development projects—such as mining, road construction, land reclamation, real estate development—and human activities like hunting and poaching, pose serious threats.
“While the laws are very strict, the implementation is very lax,” he pointed out.
He said there is a need to strictly implement the laws, which would solve more than half of the problems the country is facing in protecting wildlife.
Asked if the government is doing its best to protect our wildlife, he replied, “No, no, no, no. We can talk for hours on this topic alone.”