Poets, artists, neurobiologists, philosophers, and others have long pondered, what constitutes beauty. Whatever it is, it is impossible, I think, to hear the liquid notes of the voice of a certain tropical songbird and not be charmed. I speak of the endangered straw-headed bulbul, native to the green forests of parts of southeast Asia, where it has become divided into a series of isolated subpopulations, each quite small. The entire wild population is estimated to be no more than about 2,500 birds, and possibly less than half that number. The male and female sing in charming duets, as can be heard, and seen, here.
Last week, we joined with a group of animal protection organizations to propose to the U.S. government that the straw-headed bulbul, named for stiff, gold-coloured feathers about the face, be listed under Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora (CITES). That would make any international trade in the species for “primarily commercial” purposes illegal. The idea was endorsed three years ago by the First Asian Songbird Trade Crisis Summit. It is long overdue.
The species is already listed on Appendix II, which regulates trade, and according to records no such international trade has occurred. But, it has! Not only is there a vigorous domestic market, but the demand remains high and conservationists found bird traders openly admitting to cross-border trade the birds selling for as much as U.S. $600 each.
We have also urged listing of 17 species of tanagers of the genus, Tangara, be listed on Appendix II of CITES. There is a demand for the birds, not because of the beauty of their songs, but of their colors and patterns. These small songbirds, found in Central and South America, are patterned in bright, showy colours that are so visually attractive that many people want to “own” them, and so the birds are placed in cages, not unlike equally beautiful tropical reef fish in aquariums or tropical butterflies dead and dried and framed under glass.
The Appendix II listing has not worked for the straw-headed bulbul, but so powerful are the economic interests that drive the international exploitation of wildlife that it is unthinkable that a species in demand would go directly to Appendix I. These little tanagers are not necessarily rare, but then, neither was the bulbul at one point. The problem with the tanagers is that we just don’t know how many there are, how many are taken from the wild, and what number is greater than the ability of the species to replace them through breeding. To completely ban international trade we have to wait for them to become endangered, like the straw-headed bulbul, and then it may be too late to prevent extinction.
And, with extinction, comes loss of beauty, however defined, and the richness that would be ours to cherish, if only we could. At the very least, lets monitor the trade, which is what the Appendix II listing will accomplish.
Keep Wildlife in the Wild,
Barry