Page 12 - aruba-today-20220607

A12 SCIENCE
Tuesday 7 June 2022
In Bali, bird sellers help endangered

mynah make a comeback

is compatible with Indo-
nesian culture, where it's
common to have cage
birds and people rely on
the bird trade for their in-
come, said Tom Squires,
a PhD candidate at Man-
chester Metropolitan Uni-
versity studying Bali mynah
ecology and other threat-
ened birds in Indonesia.
"The national park began
to understand that and
... create the conditions
where you could have a
A Bali mynah prepared to be released into the wild perch on wild population that still
three branches inside an enclosure in Tabanan, Bali, Indonesia thrives," said Squires. "Bird
on April 17, 2022. keepers can still keep birds
Associated Press and follow their hobby
By VICTORIA MILKO and Capture of the birds for without causing real prob-
ANDI JATMIKO sale coupled with habitat lems for wild populations —
Associated Press loss from land conversion which is, I think, a lot better
BABAHAN, Indonesia (AP) to farming and settlements than species going extinct
— Tossing flowing crests led to the bird being listed in the world."
back and forth, three as "threatened" by the In- Early mynah releases were
snow-white Bali mynahs ternational Union for Con- plagued with issues: some
share a branch, squawk- servation of Nature in 1988 birds were infected with a
ing and looking around and upgraded to "critically parasite that caused high
with the trademark blue endangered" in 1994. By fledgling mortality, others
patches around their eyes 2001 experts estimated were killed by natural pred-
catching sunlight. Minutes only about six Bali mynahs ators. Poaching also con-
later, four more join — a were living in the wild, tinued — and the national
sight that would have been with thousands in captivity park's captive breeding
impossible in the wild two across the globe. facility was even robbed
decades ago. Recognizing Indonesia's at gunpoint, with nearly 40
But by working with bird deeply engrained bird birds stolen.
breeders and sellers — the breeder culture and the Yet conservation efforts in
very group that contrib- dire need for Bali mynah the last decade have seen
uted to the prized birds conservation, the nongov- greater success through in-
becoming critically endan- ernmental organization creased monitoring of the
gered — conservationists now called BirdLife Interna- birds, stronger census data
are releasing them in Bali tional paired with the gov- and more research, said
province, hoping to boost ernment to launch a cap- Squires.
the wild population. tive breeding program in Agus Ngurah Krisna Kepak-
Experts say more research the 1980s. isan, the head of the West
and monitoring is needed, Breeders are able to apply Bali National Park, also at-
but the conservation mod- for licenses to breed the tributes the success of the
el has shown promise over birds. If approved, they're breeding program to the
the past 10 years and could given mynahs by the gov- creation and proliferation
be replicated for other vul- ernment and are allowed of "buffer villages" around
nerable birds in Indonesia. to keep 90% of the offspring the park. Villagers get as-
Endemic to Bali, the Bali for private sale. The remain- sistance in obtaining per-
mynah has been a highly ing birds are rehabilitated mits to breed Bali mynahs
sought collector's item in and released at West Bali there.
the international cage National Park, where they "With the community being
bird trade for more than a can be monitored by park the breeders ... they are
century due to their striking authorities. helping us to take care of
white plumage and song. The conservation method the birds that exist in na-
ture," he said. "There are
also those who used to of-
ten look for and take Bali
mynah from nature."
Squires said there's de-
finitive evidence some
released birds have pro-
duced offspring. "So that
leads me to believe that
the population is is cer-
tainly self-sustaining to an
extent," he said.q