Yellow-breasted Bunting is facing the risk of extinction
caused by illegal human consumption
Immediate rescue action is needed
Hong Kong Bird Watching Society (HKBWS)
Press Release
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) announced their most updated Red List of Threatened Species yesterday (5 December) and the status of Yellow-breasted Bunting (YBB) was uplisted from “Endangered” to “Critically Endangered”. Mr. Yu Yat-tung, Research Manager of HKBWS sadly expressed, “Within 14 years, the status of YBB has been uplisted 4 times and is facing the risk of extinction. Number of a species declines in such speedy rate is rare. If no immediate actions to stop illegal hunting and to conserve the species, this bird will eventually extinct in the wild”. In response to this, Hong Kong Bird Watching Society (HKBWS) has set the year of 2018 as the “International YBB Awareness Year”. The society will continue their effort in local, regional and global conservation works on protecting YBB. At the same time, we will encourage general public to participate in the campaign and promise not to eat YBB. Dr. Ko Wing-man, former Secretary for Food and Health, strongly supports this conservation action and acts as the Ambassador to help promote the conservation of YBB in Hong Kong. He also urges, “Support local agriculture and stop eating YBB”.
Conservation works on Yellow-breasted Bunting
Birdlife International, HKBWS and Sun Yat-sen University co-organized a conference on the conservation of YBB in November 2016 at Guangzhou. It aimed to formulate the conservation framework and actions for the conservation of YBB and to reduce the human threats to this endangered species. An important recommendation was about strengthening the bird ringing works, so as to collect more data of the migration routes of YBB for the formulation of its conservation strategies.
Mr. Yu Yat-tung continued today, “In order to carry out the compromised actions, HKBWS has started bird ringing works in Long Valley this autumn (2017). We aim to systematically collect data of YBB and other farmland birds, such as their migration routes, stopover time, populations and their wintering grounds. During October and November this year, we ringed 21 YBB with metal and coloured rings. Each ring has a unique code, just like their identity cards, for tracking their movements and migrations patterns. YBB was constantly recorded during the whole study period and we believe YBB has a longer migration period than other buntings. Meanwhile, we come across only several ringed YBB, which means their period of stay at Long Valley could be very short and other YBB constantly pass through Long Valley. The Society together with other bird watching societies and conservation groups in China and Asia countries are currently promoting the conservation of YBB and encouraging bird watchers to report sightings of ringed birds.”
Ms. Vicky Yeung, Project Manager of HKBWS, explained, “Long Valley is located in the North District of Hong Kong, a flood plain of about 37 hectares between River Beas and Shek Sheung River. It is also the largest piece of active farmland remains in Hong Kong. HKBWS and the Conservancy Association has started wetland conservation projects in Long Valley since 2005, and introduced rice paddies since 2009. The number of YBB recorded in Long Valley then rises slowly, this is a proof that rice paddy is important to YBB which stops, rests and recharges before continuing their long migration journeys. To conserve YBB in Hong Kong, “Stop eating YBB” is not enough to converse it, we are also required to promote local agriculture so as to provide more suitable habitats for YBB.”
Yellow-breasted Bunting situation in China
Ms. Vivian Fu, Manager of Development and China Programme of HKBWS, said “In the 60s and 70s, YBB was very abundant in China and even considered as pests. The Chinese Government even encouraged the public to kill them. Such massive killing became more vigorous as YBB was thought to be nourishing like “ginseng in heaven” and turned to be status symbol. Sanshui municipal in Guangdong province even organized “The YBB Festival” which millions of birds were consumed each year. Although protection of this species was stepped up by law in recent years, there are still illegal trading of YBB happening in the country. It is still not hard to find restaurants serving YBB secretly. According to a recent paper published in Conservation Biology in 2015, the illegal hunting of YBB in China was the main reason for its road to extinction.”
To tackle the problem of illegal hunting, HKBWS started a conservation project along the coast of Guangdong and Guangxi provinces in 2014. We helped to build the capacity of awareness-raising and monitoring works of local conservation groups, and encourage public to report illegal hunting or trading to the government in order to stop the illegal hunting and consumption of wild animals. In 2017, HKBWS started to collaborate with NGOs in mainland China to carry out monitoring and education programmes, so as to educate the public about the threats YBB currently facing and encourage them to participate in the conservation activities.
Future Actions
HKBWS will continue to work with other environmental NGOs in the future to promote the conservation of YBB. We are also going to set the year of 2018 as the “International YBB Awareness Year”. HKBWS will continue to plant rice paddies in Long Valley to support local agriculture and to provide a stable and ideal habitat for YBB. We will conduct researches in cooperation with other conservation organizations from where YBB migrates, so that more information about the ecology and distribution of YBB can be collected. These data is also important in the formulation of conservation measures for YBB.
Lastly, we would like to urge the Hong Kong Government actively supports local agriculture, and the relevant departments applies to CITES (Convention of International Trade of Endangered Species) to include YBB to their Appendix of the convention, in order to have legal control of the trading of this threatened species.
Yellow-breasted Bunting promotion video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NH5AVXQUU-c&feature=youtu.be
