Ken

1 Feb 2011
Siu Lek Yuen

Ken

Taken on 26 Feb

lpaul

Sadly this is almost certainly an escape.  In addition to some tail damage this bird shows a bare area at the base of the bill on the right hand side of the head.  Such damge is classic cage damage and is caused by birds pushing their bills through the wire mesh and scraping off the skin at the base of the bill.

cgeoff

It appears also to have been rather approachable.

The fact that we record birds exhibiting this kind of damage relatively frequently illustrates the extent to which birds are traded through HK. I wonder, for every bird seen with damage, how many are traded, and, more importantly, how many die from sickness due to the appalling conditions and treatment associated with this trade?

I strongly believe that this is an area where the HKBWS should be taking a lead in pressuring goverment to ban the trade. All the arguments about it being a part of the culture fade into insignficance, in my opinion, when set aside the heavy toll inflicted on wild birds.

GeoffC

brendank

Agree totally that HKBWS should pressure the government to ban the bird trade.

I wonder how many birds we see without feather damage which we think are completely wild birds are in fact ex-captives.  Even if 95% of birds in the markets show damage, ex-captive birds could live for months or years after release and re-grow all damaged feathers.

kmike

I agree that this is a big issue, and an important one.

Anyone wishing to start a subcommittee to work on the bird trade issue would be more than welcome. However, please be aware HKBWS and KFBG tried this when H5N1 was clearly shown to be coming into HK through the bird trade - and even when there was a very good reason to close down the trade, we were completely ignored by the Government.

An issue like this really needs a champion who will:

• form a group to share the workload
• be prepared to drive it for several years,
• collaborate with groups such as TRAFFIC & other Birdlife partners to gather information and share international best practice on data from buyer countries (EU and Indonesia) and supplier countries (especially China)
• be willing to engage LegCo members, officials from AFCD, Environment Bureau, Health Bureau, Centre for Health Protection
• Discuss with Buddhist and other religious associations (on sale of birds caught traded and bought - specially so that they can be released!)
• The bird sellers
• Airlines (that transport the birds worldwide)

The key leverage points are:

• Risk to human health from global pandemic: Traded birds carry H5N1 and contact with birds, loose feathers, their droppings and dust from droppings is high in bird markets , so the risk of infection is correspondingly high
• Threat to wild bird populations from escaped birds with infections picked up in markets
• Unsustainable "harvesting" of wild bird populations.
• Inhumane treatment and massive mortality rates of traded birds
• Save AFCD resources in monitoring a dangerous, immoral, and unsustainable  trade.

Opposition will come from:

• Bird market operators and wholesalers
• Breeders of birds
• Airlines
• LegCo & Govt officials, who will defend the livelihoods of birdsellers and wholesalers

This is a daunting task. However it may be possible to address this issue by requiring Government to report and take action on the trade under the Convention on Biological Diversity - under the section on Hong Kong's impact on biodiversity beyond its borders, which is a key component of the CBD. This is not totally remote as AFCD informed LegCo that Hong Kong would sign up to CBD by the end of this month.

I'd welcome any comments, and especially any volunteers . . .

Cheers
Mike

[ Last edited by kmike at 2/03/2011 19:57 ]