Disentangling the Legal and Illegal Wildlife Trade-Insights from Indonesian Wildlife Market Surveys

Abstract

It is challenging to disentangle the legal and illegal aspects of wild-caught animals that are traded in wildlife markets or online, and this may diminish the value of conducting wildlife trade surveys. We present empirical studies on the trade in birds (ducks, owls, songbirds, non-passerines) in Indonesia (2005 to 2021). Based on visits to wildlife markets, wholesale traders, and monitoring of an Instagram account, we examine if five specific pieces of legislation (domestic and international) are adhered to: (1) protected species, (2) harvest quota, (3) welfare, (4) provincial transport restrictions, and (5) illegal import of CITES-listed species. Our five distinctly different case studies showed that in each case, certain rules and regulations were adhered to, whilst others were violated to varying degrees. When trade involved non-protected species, there was frequently a lack of harvest quotas or trade occurred above these allocated quotas. Basic welfare provisions were regularly and habitually violated. Visiting wildlife markets and recording first-hand what is openly offered for sale is a highly reliable, verifiable, and valuable method of data collection that can give insight in numerous aspects of the animal trade. Our research provides support for recognising the urgency for the government to take appropriate action to curb all the illegal aspects of the bird trade in Indonesia.

Keywords: Asian Songbird Crisis; CITES; Indonesia; conservation; illegal wildlife trade; social media.

Figure 1

Illegal harvest and trade in wandering whistling duck Dendrocygna arcuata (June 2005 to April 2007). Left: Data from 23 monthly surveys of the premises of wholesale traders in East Kalimantan and from verbal reports of the number of ducks traded (both expressed on logarithmic scales) showing high levels of agreement. Right: Number of duck harvesters active in each month on Lake Jempang, Lake Semayang, and Lake Melintang (Mean + SEM) (bars) and the number of wandering whistling duck observed on these lakes during surveys (continuous line).

Figure 2

Trade in owls in Sumatra, Java and Bali over a 35-year period showing that the proportion of owls in trade increase markedly between 2001 and 2007. The vertical lines at September 2001 and January 2008 indicate the release the Indonesian translations of the first and the final installment of the Harry Potter series.

Figure 3

Numbers of orange-spotted bulbul Pycnonotus bimaculatus (red bars) and yellow-fronted bulbuls P. goiavier (blue bars) recorded openly offered for sale in 76 fortnightly surveys (August 2016 to October 2019) at Kerkhof wildlife market in Garut, West Java, showing substantial variations in availability.