As the popular Indonesian saying goes
“A man is considered to be a real man if he has a house, a wife, a horse, a keris (dagger), and a bird.”
Birds are the most common pet in Indonesia. Many of these birds are taken directly from the wild and enter into the illegal pet trade. This has led to dramatic declines in Indonesian bird populations, which is now recognised as a global conservation crisis.
There is an urgent need to assist with the survival of Simeulue’s endemic and threatened bird species. Simeulue is home to two endemic bird species and 26 endemic subspecies, most of which are threatened. Two endemic subspecies are now on the brink of extinction.
Our Approach:
To work with local and regional government and Simeulue communities to develop a protection plan for the priority forest areas.
Using existing research, gain species recognition and increase conservation status for Simeulue Hill Myna and Barusan Shama.
To develop a community ranger monitoring and law enforcement programme.
And because Simeulue Hill Myna and Barusan Shama are on the brink of extinction, a conservation breeding programme to reestablish wild populations.
EcosystemImpact - with support from the Indonesia wildlife agency BKSDA - is in the process of building a breeding facility in the grounds of our Simeulue partners Mahi-Mahi Surf Resort.
As EcosystemImpact embarks on our breeding programme, we are very conscious of their controversy. The idea of putting birds in cages to solve the problem of birds in cages sounds like a contradiction! Breeding programmes are unfortunately a necessary last resort.
Funding support from this project comes from Mandai Nature, ZGAP, Marlow Bird Park and Copenhagen Zoo.
A bird education conservation programme for Simeulue schools will run aside this breeding programme.
