Blog/News

Addressing the Growing Threat to New Guinea’s Butcherbirds

Text by Loretta Shepherd/Monitor, Images Simon Bruslund/Silent Forest A recent joint Monitor (Monitor Songbird Lab) study published in the European Journal of Wildlife Research highlights a concerning trend: the rapid emergence of a trade in New Guinea’s butcherbirds (Cracticinae) in Indonesia. The research, conducted jointly with Oxford Wildlife Trade Research Group, Lincoln Park Zoo, Copenhagen Zoo […]

A new analysis of the trade in songbirds in Bangkok finds trade in physical market declining but online trade is a concern

Text by Chris R. Shepherd and Boyd T. C. Leupen from Monitor All birds native to Thailand are protected under Thai law. However, illegal trade persists. In order to understand current levels of trade and to inform further efforts to end this illegal trade, a study by Monitor, TRAFFIC and the Oxford Wildlife Trade Research […]

New paper on Black-throated Laughingthrush out: global commercialisation, under-reported trade, and the need for increased international regulation of a non-CITES listed songbird

The Black-throated Laughingthrush Pterorhinus chinensis is one of many songbird species impacted by trade. Found in Cambodia, China, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam, it is sought-after by songbird hobbyists locally and abroad. The number of songbirds negatively affected by unsustainable trade, especially in Asia, continues to grow. Only a few species are protected where […]

News from Cikananga…

The Cikananga Conservation Breeding Center (CCBC) have just released their annual report with reviews of activities from January – December 2022. As with most of the world, Indonesia in 2022 entered a post-pandemic period with restrictions and regulations eased and society having evolved. Whilst this was good news for CCBC as we once again gathered […]

Over-exploitation of Songbirds in Vietnam

The exploitation of birds for commercial trade is one of the greatest threats to an ever-increasing number of species around the world, particularly in Asia. Much of this trade is illegal, unregulated, and/or unsustainable and is a major cause of Southeast Asia’s bird declines and extinctions. Experts warn that we are still witnessing the ongoing […]

Hasta Luego Panamá

Today is the final day of the CITES CoP19 and it has been intense two weeks of learning, understanding, negotiating and adapting. It is with a feeling that the understanding of the need for conservation of wildlife is growing with the nations of the world as the conference is wrapping up and I write this […]

Advocacy for songbirds at the CITES CoP19

Yesterday, with the EAZA Silent Forest Group and partners*, we hosted CITES delegates at an event on songbird conservation, moderated by Dalia Conde of Species360 and our own Danny de Man. Welcoming the audience of official delegations, NGOs and researchers, EAZA Chair Endre Papp underlined the importance of protecting songbirds from unsustainable and illegal trade. […]