Wildlife trade and consumer preference for species rarity: an examination of caged-bird markets in Sumatra

Abstract

This study examines conservation effects of wildlife trade using demand and supply data from caged-bird markets in Sumatra, Indonesia. When consumers have a strong preference for species rarity, trade could result in wildlife overexploitation and species extinction. Results from a choice experiment show that buyers of caged birds indeed value species rarity. However, not all rare species are equally preferred. Species that are frequently traded lose their rarity value, even if rare in the wild. Analysis of time-series data collected from traders over a period of 20 months between 2013 and 2015 reveals an inelastic supply function for rare species, with market arrivals being insensitive to price changes. This may be due to a declining stock of rare species in the wild. Bird trade together with habitat loss can lead to extinction of a number of rare species in Indonesia. Several policy approaches on regulating caged-bird markets are discussed.

What is the reliability of visually based animal trade census outcomes? A case study involving the market monitoring of the Sumatran Laughingthrush Garrulax bicolor

“…the type of vendor and the character of its store, the season, current trends, customer preferences, the time of day a survey is conducted, etc. (Burivalova et al 2017, Krishna et al 2019, Marshall et al 2019. As a result, and as this study has shown, precise outcomes delivered by DCM cannot therefore be expected.…”

Characterizing bird‐keeping user‐groups on Java reveals distinct behaviours, profiles and potential for change

“…Conversely, the prevalence (Marshall et al, 2020a) and abundance of highly sought‐after taxa (e.g. White‐rumped Shama, Oriental Magpie‐robin, leafbirds) kept by contestants suggests that an anthropogenic Allee effect (Courchamp et al., 2006) is at work, drawing some species into an extinction vortex through their ever‐increasing rarity in the wild, market value and status‐giving properties (Eaton et al., 2015; Krishna et al., 2019). Although breeders show similar behaviours and preferences to contestants, they also favour profitable taxa (lovebirds, canaries Serinus spp., doves) that can be easily bred and resold for a much‐elevated price.…”

“…To estimate losses of birds, we calculated the proportion of them owned in 2016 that respondents reported to have subsequently died. As the owning of trafficked wildlife is not illegal under Indonesian legislation (Chng et al, 2018) our questions did not relate to perceived illegal behaviour; thus in common with previous research into songbird-keeping (Burivalova et al, 2017;Krishna et al, 2019) we assumed that respondents provided information about the origins of their birds truthfully.…”

“…Name of interviewer and time and date of survey were recorded before interviews; all data were subsequently anonymized. As the owning of trafficked wildlife is not illegal under Indonesian legislation (Chng et al, 2018) our questions did not relate to perceived illegal behaviour; thus in common with previous research into songbird-keeping (Burivalova et al, 2017;Krishna et al, 2019) we assume that respondents provided information about the origins of their birds truthfully. We obtained ethics approval for our work from the Academic Ethics Committee at Manchester Metropolitan University and the Ethical Review Committee at Chester Zoo.…”

An economic analysis of twitching behaviour and species rarity

“…Individuals' also obtain relatively higher satisfaction from experiential versus material consumption (Gilovich, Kumar and Jampol, 2015). (Krishna et al, 2019). 3 In the case of vagrant birds, rarity takes a different meaning as the value attached to experiencing a rarity increases with the fewer individuals who manage to experience it.…”