7/8/2023 0 Comments Songbird academy singaporeTo this, the paper's lead author Chiok Wen Xuan, a wildlife ecologist and researcher, countered: "There should be more support for sustainable competitions involving captive-bred species, or organise more competitions for finches and canaries."ĭr Jain added: "Based on these findings, one behaviour change intervention could be to improve the social acceptance of captive-bred songbirds. Our hobbyists are more versed with Asian or South-east Asian birds, and there are no competitions for canaries," he said. "Serious avian hobbyists do not keep canaries. Ideally, conservationists said, hobbyists should pick captive-bred and domesticated species such as canaries and finches, over the popular songbirds now.Ĭanaries have been captive bred for hundreds of years, and there is "massive domestic stock that can feed demand", Dr Lee explained.īut Kebun Baru Birdsinging Club's co-founder Robin Chua said switching to canaries and finches may be a long shot. "Paperwork will not address 100 per cent the illegal capture of birds in the wild, but it helps to track bird movement in the markets, especially for native species that are protected in Singapore."Ī sustainable songbird trading system is one where birds are obtained from captive-bred sources kept under internationally accepted standards, or where birds are properly harvested from the wild via strict adherence to quota. "Pet shops need to start putting more effort into their supply chain." Proper documentation and record-keeping is lacking, she noted. How can you ask how they got the bird? It's so rude."īetween 20, National Parks Board's (NParks) Animal and Veterinary Service conducted around 2,000 inspections on pet shops and farms, and took action on 110 cases for non-compliance with licensing conditions.īetween 20, 44 bird smuggling cases were intercepted, resulting in the seizure of 2,055 birds, said NParks group director of wildlife management Adrian Loo.ĭr Jessica Lee, assistant vice-president of conservation and research at Mandai Nature and co-author of the paper, said that pet shops - where most of the songbirds are obtained - should be further regulated to ensure that the supply chain and trade is clean. Mr Chua, for instance, told ST: "The pet shops sell birds, and I just buy them. Hobbyists may also be reluctant to press for transparency. However, the paper's authors noted that some hobbyists may not have been forthcoming or may have given a desirable answer since preference for the source of birds is a sensitive question. A couple of songbird hobbyists that The Straits Times spoke to also said they have friends who privately breed birds such as the popular zebra dove - which they sell or give away.Īmong the 114 hobbyists surveyed in the recent paper, only 17 per cent of them preferred wild-caught songbirds over captive-bred ones.
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