Hong Kong and Singapore imported more than 1 million live wild birds between 2006 and 2020, according to a new analysis of customs data published in Conservation Biology. Nearly two-thirds of the birds were from Africa.
The study highlights a massive, often under-regulated trade that threatens wild populations and poses significant risks for the spread of invasive species and deadly diseases, Mongabay’s Spoorthy Raman reports.
Rowan Martin, director of bird trade at the World Parrot Trust, and his colleagues used U.N. Comtrade data to track the trade of wild birds. They found that Singapore accounted for nearly three-quarters of the imports, and Hong Kong was a second hub. Canaries (Crithagra spp.) topped the list of birds entering Hong Kong, with the yellow-fronted canary (C. mozambica) and white-rumped seedeater (C. leucopygia) making up 84% of African imports between 2015 and 2020.
Martin’s team found that about 65% of the birds came from Africa. Mali, Guinea, Tanzania, and Mozambique were the primary exporters.
“African birds are prominent because there’s been very little regulation of the exports,” Martin told Mongabay. “There are relatively few large-scale exporters operating in West Africa, and often these family businesses have big holding facilities where they aggregate birds prior to export.”
