Bulu is one of the least prepossessing birds in Indonesia. Wrinkled pink skin sags over a lumpy little body and stiff shafts of new feathers are sticking out in all directions. But Bulu is significant, because it’s only the third Palm Cockatoo known to have been bred in captivity in this country.
Last week, officials of the Forestry Department looked on as Bulu’s scrawny leg was banded with the slim, coded ring of stainless steel that declares him first generation captive-bred. His children’s children will hopefully provide the breeding stock for zoos all over the world and help replace the wild-caught birds that are being hunted out around all inhabited areas.
Indonesia’s wealth of wildlife includes about 17% of the world’s bird species, including rare cockatoos, birds of paradise, lories, eclectus parrots, hornbills and raptors. Nearly a quarter of these species are found nowhere else on earth. Many of Indonesia’s rapidly disappearing birds live in forest canopies, and the country’s forests are being destroyed at an alarming rate. Sumatra’s natural forests will be entirely gone in less than five years. Song birds, long popular with Javanese, are becoming increasingly rare and expensive as their habitats vanish to make way for roads, suburbs and factories.
In eastern Indonesia where deforestation is slower, poaching is decimating bird populations. Thousands of illegally obtained birds turn up in international markets, some with false documents, every year. Thai fishing boats call at Aru and other remote islands to load hundreds of cockatoos and other protected species for the markets of Thailand. A Palm Cockatoo from Aru or Irian Jaya costs less in Bangkok’s Chatuchak Market than one bought in Indonesia. Indonesia is also a major exporter of birds to the Middle East, where illegal, wild-caught birds are much cheaper than captive-bred birds.
With so many wild birds being harvested for sale and their nesting areas rapidly disappearing, captive breeding programs are the only way to preserve Indonesia’s rare species. Anak Burung Tropikana, a breeding farm established in Bali 20 years ago, is now leading the country in the successful cultivation of about 50 Indonesian and some Australian birds. Don Wells Reeder, an American with 40 years of experience, has managed the farm’s propagation program for the past two years. The breeding of the Palm Cockatoo (Kakatua Rajah) is a source of great pride. Bali Bird Park has bred them in the past few years also.
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We’ve already successfully bred many very rare species such as Pesquets Parrots, Citron Cockatoos, Purple Capped Lories and many less rare species at this farm to provide aviculturists around the world with captive-bred stock for further propagation work,” explains Don.
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At the present rate of decline, the Palm Cockatoo faces the real possibility of becoming extinct in our lifetime. It will probably be hunted out within a few decades. It’s a labour of love to rear these birds; it’s certainly not profitable,” he continues. “This bird is a very fastidious eater; each pair costs about Rp 200,000 a month to feed. But now we’ve established that it’s possible to breed them in captivity, which hopefully will help take the pressure off the birds in the wild in the future. A high percentage of illegally captured Palm Cockatoos die of stress, parasites or poor feeding. Many more are hunted for meat.
This species will certainly benefit from captive breeding. In the wild, these birds only lay one egg each season, and only about 10% of the chicks survive their first year. In captivity, breeding birds can give us as many as four or even six eggs per season and the chicks are raised by hand.
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As long as people in Malaysia and Thailand can buy wild-caught Indonesian birds cheaper than captive-bred birds, the poaching will continue. If responsible people are allowed to keep and breed these rare birds, then the prices will stabilize and the incentive to buy wild birds will gradually disappear. This has been proved here in Indonesia with tropical fish, which Indonesian breeders can actually now provide far cheaper than wild- caught fish from around the world.”
Anak Burung Tropikana is one of just two successful breeding operations in Indonesia. It complies fully with the many complex regulations, including ringing all birds born in captivity, keeping a stud book for CITES, and cooperating with the Forestry Department. “These laws were put in place to protect the birds,” explains Don. “Yet because some of the regulations were made without on-the-ground experience and knowledge, they actively hamper captive breeding programs that will secure DNA for the future of some species. Many species listed as Appendix 1, such as Goffins Cockatoo from Tanimbar, are there by mistake while others that should be on the list are not. Some people are of the belief, for instance, that Birds of Paradise are very rare. In fact none are particularly rare where they occur and not threatened as long as their habitats stay intact.
Birds can be bred in sufficient numbers to counteract the wild- caught trade as long as the government works closely with breeders and facilitates the breeding . We support these efforts and look forward to working with the authorities more and more as time goes by to make the transition from wild-caught to totally captive-bred exports from Indonesia in the future.”
There is talk of creating a soft-release program for confiscated birds on Nusa Penida until such time as their native habitats can be made secure. But, realistically, forests are becoming less secure all the time. In an era of uncontrolled development, it’s hard to imagine a situation in which illegally captured birds can be safely released to a habitat where they can live out their days unmolested.
Indonesia, with its rich legacy of birdlife, could be a world leader in the propagation of rare species. Until buyers support the market for farmed birds, the parrot’s raucous calls and whistles in Indonesia’s remaining forests will become increasingly rare.
