Pros And Cons Of Bird Poaching

Surpassed only by the trade of narcotics, the illegal bird trade reigns as one of the largest and most elusive international illegal trading systems. Illicit bird poaching practices prove overwhelmingly destructive against both the captured birds as individuals as well as the habitats from which they are wrongfully withdrawn; though prohibitions on international bird trading have been successfully ratified in the past, such legislation has proved still ineffective insofar as wholly eliminating unlawful and unsustainable avian exotic trade systems. Because of this, rather than indiscriminate “blanket bans” that operate negligently of the cycles and needs of both local and international trading systems, the reinforcement of stricter ethical and

In context, the criminal trafficking of avian exotics remains largely underscored and legitimatized by human economical desire; consequently, the birds implicated in said systems regularly suffer either direct or indirect animal cruelty as they oftentimes are viewed merely as exploitable resources. Said inhumanities, arguably, prove observable from the onset of international illicit bird poaching chains: generally, the harvesting of avian exotics entails either the forceful capture of chicks from their nest cavities or—for such species as the macaw, who nest at higher elevations—the chopping down of the nested tree in its entirety (Gonzales 2003). Said methods of capture prove devastating for birds’ habitats, as the affected nesting areas are rendered unusable for subsequent populations (Weston and Memon 2009). This loss of habitat ultimately contributes to accelerated species extinction as well as incongruence and an ultimate decline in avian biodiversity in general (Sollund 2013, Gonzales 2003); such is observable in—for example,—the positive correlation between the

The legalization of sustainable exotic bird trade—based upon quantified measures of wild and captive populations and endangerment—could provide benefits for each link of the avian exotic market. Application of said regulations would first necessitate analysis if the local and international economies involved in the trade. For example, while the trade of avian exotics appears financially important within the individual contexts of the traders themselves, few indications of the presence of any extraordinary, national economic benefits resultant of illegal avian exotic exportation exists (Thomsen et al. 1992, Swanson 1994, Beissinger 2001). Instead, the financial benefits experienced by the predominantly rural harvesters of the neo-tropical countries to which many exotic birds are native appear miniscule whereas American and European traders and breeders are disproportionately better paid. Theoretically, regulatory measures for sustainable international and domestic bird trade would aid those already implicated in the market. Harvesters would enjoy better-balanced financial gains as well as—in the light of possibly decreased species endangerment—increased