Friday, May 15, 2009

Geographical Magazine - May Issue

Geographical Magazine back home in the UK printed a story of ours on Indonesian bird keeping and the conservation efforts going on there to protect songbirds from extinction.

Ever been to a songbird competition? Crazy! Its like being at a football or rugby match with throngs of people screaming and waving their arms, judges meander under 50 bird cages while the stars of the show, tiny songbirds, sing their little hearts out trying to impress the judges and win their owners the grand prize - perhaps a trophy, some times a motorbike and at the national finals $22,500!

Dr. Paul Jepson at the Oxford University Centre for the Environment has been conducting research out there trying to shift the whole birdkeeping and competing industry, which is valued at around $60 million, away from wild capture birds and instead use captive bred birds. And the preliminary results after three years of Darwin funded research suggest that the conservation strategy is working, which is encouraging especially considering this news.





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