Lampung has become a hub for smuggling Sumatran wild birds to Java. Between 1-25 October 2019, officers foiled ten smuggling attempts, 9 at Bakauheni Port, Lampung, and 1 in Central Lampung.

Species of birds rescued by officers include the Lesser Green Leafbird, Sunda Laughingthrush, Common Green Magpie, Blue crowned hanging parrot, Black Laughingthrush, White eye, Sumatran Bulbul, and Yellow Bellied bulbul.

Bakauheni Port, Lampung, is the main route for smuggling Sumatran wild birds to Java. Birds are smuggled through buses, trucks and private cars. In other places, such as Pangkal Pinang, Bangka, smuggling also occurs but rarely happen.

Readers may like to know that birds are stolen from the forests in North Sumatra, Riau, Jambi, South Sumatra, West Sumatra and Bengkulu. They are transported to Lampung and then to Java to the bird markets there.

FLIGHT: Protecting Indonesia’s Birds investigations show that more than 1 million Sumatran wild birds are stolen from the wild every year, to supply Indonesia’s bird markets. In the past year and a half, FLIGHT has investigated, blacklisted traders, and mapped Sumatran bird trade routes.

FLIGHT has also worked with Quarantine authorities, the Police and BKSDA to prevent bird smuggling. We have, together, saved more than 20,000 birds in more than 20 rescue incidents. All surviving birds are released into the wild, after a health check.