Map of western Indonesia and the Philippines showing historic and current ranges of Philippine Cockatoo and Straw-headed Bulbul

BirdLife International (2001)

In the Asian region, overexploitation is considered a particularly significant threat for many threatened bird species, causing rapid declines in both numbers and range (BirdLife International 2003). Examples include:

• the rapid decline of Swan Goose Anser cygnoides (Vulnerable) in the lower Yangtze basin in China, owing to large-scale commercial hunting
• the rapid decline of Maleo Macrocephalon maleo (Endangered) at many of its nesting colonies on Sulawesi (Indonesia), owing to uncontrolled egg harvesting
• the huge range reduction of Philippine Cockatoo Cacatua haematuropygia (Critically Endangered) and Straw-headed Bulbul Pycnonotus zeylanicus (Vulnerable), owing to intensive trapping for the cage-bird trade and compounded by habitat loss (BirdLife International 2001; see figure).

In the case of the cockatoo, trapping is changing the age structure of the remaining population, with fewer and fewer young birds (on the island of Palawan, the stronghold, chicks are taken from every accessible nest). Individual island populations are expected to go extinct as a result. For the bulbul, much sought after for its celebrated song, extinction is imminent in Sumatra. Continual imports of illegally captured Malaysian birds feed the high demand in Indonesia, depleting populations in its remaining stronghold (BirdLife International 2001, 2008).