Promoting songbirds, increasing knowledge, awareness and commitment to action within and beyond the zoos Songbirds in Southeast Asia have become the subject of an excessive but culturally deep-rooted consumption for trade, singing competitions, pets, hobbyists, status symbols, commercial export, traditional medicine and food. Demand for songbirds in Southeast Asia is extremely high, affecting hund
reds of species and involving millions of individual birds, annually. The trade is often illegal and evidently unsustainable; thus, it has been recognised as a primary threat for many species in Southeast Asia, particularly the Greater Sunda region. The Silent Forest Group has the following objective:
Silent Forest Vision:
A world where people live in appreciation and respect of Songbirds with awareness not to engage in unsustainable practices. Achieved through three pillars:
-Consistent and quality long-term technical and financial support for in-range and in-situ conservation projects.
-Cooperation between EAZA ex-situ programmes as well as enable networking with other regions, research as well as conservation entities.
-Jointly carried-out supportive activities on education, awareness, fundraising, and publications. Silent Forest Mission:
The Silent Forest Group is a working group of the EAZA Songbird Taxon Advisory Group collecting and sharing information on the Asian Songbird Crisis caused by unsustainable and illegal trade. Actively fundraising, providing project management as well as technical support services for in-situ PROJECTS and empowering our partners. Overseeing and linking relevant ex-situ PROGRAMS sharing resources. Promoting songbirds, increasing knowledge, awareness, and commitment to action with educational ACTIVITIES within and beyond the zoo community. The Silent Forest Group membership is formed by individual zoo’s and in-region project partners. External partner organizations include: Asian Songbird Trade Specialist Group, BirdLife International, TRAFFIC, ASAP and the Oriental Bird Club. The Crisis:
Currently, Indonesia which has one of the highest number of bird species assessed as threatened with global extinction in the world and the highest one in Asia (Critically Endangered, Endangered or Vulnerable; IUCN Red List, 2017) is the "epicentre" of our work. The problem is cultural with both ancient and new cultures intertwined. In Southeast Asia, caged songbirds have long been favourite family pets. Bird ownership is a celebrated custom and everyone can buy some kind of bird in the market, regardless of their social status. However, it is not simply about pets. Songbird competitions are also culturally important and provide financial motivation for family income. While the tradition may have evolved and altered over time, the culture of keeping songbirds has endured and turned into a sport and a massive industry that includes all sub-suppliers for cages, food, supplements. There is a myriad of bird clubs, while songbird competitions are major “sporting” events, making them a lucrative business. Although there are many legitimate captive breeders in Indonesia, there are still an alarming number of trappers, wholesalers and shops illegally trading in wild-caught birds. The ongoing pressure on wild populations is mainly because people believe that wild birds sing better and are stronger and more potent. Moreover, it is simply often much easier to catch rather than breed a songbird. Unfortunately, huge numbers of wild-caught birds do not live beyond the first few days in their cages. The degree of pressure on songbirds in Asia is devastating and has long been grossly underestimated. Our understanding of the status of wild populations is not developing as fast as particular bird species are disappearing, and IUCN categories are having to change much faster than usual to reflect the actual situation. Moreover, not all of the affected species are currently protected under national (range countries) and international regulations, and enforcement is regrettably deemed insufficient for many of the priority species, despite their being legally protected. The aims of the Silent Forest Group are to address and mitigate the ongoing songbird extinction crisis in Asia and increase awareness within and beyond the zoo community. Achieving these aims means ensuring the zoo community has the capability to scramble the resources needed in manpower, know-how and funding to save a growing number of Asian songbird species from imminent extinction.
