Songbirds Silenced as Colombia Fights Wildlife Trafficking

 

The metal doors of a small cage open up and a bird wearing the number 8-1-1 flies into a larger enclosure.

The bird, a saffron finch¹, lands on a tree and moves its red head to the side, as if it is surprised.

“That’s what it feels like to be free,” said Juan Camilo Panqueba. He works at a wildlife center in the Colombian city of Bogota, far from the Caribbean coast, where the bird usually lives.

The moment of release is very different from the conditions in which the bird was found.

Three weeks ago, Colombian officials seized 32 finches in a surprise raid on a group organizing cockfighting events. Officials accuse the group of setting up a songbird competition, called “the clash of titans,” on social media. People won money if they correctly predicted the winner.

Birdsong contests have taken place throughout the Caribbean for hundreds of years. But capturing any wildlife without government permission is a crime in Colombia.

Until recently, officials did not enforce the law. They were too busy fighting violence from the drug trade, rebel fighters and other armed groups. But now, as violence has fallen and with the drug trade mostly destroyed, officials are taking another look.

Colombians have grown to understand the importance of their country’s biodiversity. It is said to have the second highest biodiversity levels in the world.

Officials are working to end animal trafficking. Last year, police seized more than 34,600 animals illegally trapped in the wild — a 44% increase over 2017 levels. Many of the animals were found at airports and bus stations by dogs trained to find bird feathers or skin.

Colombian government lawyers are also going after criminals that use the illegal animal trade to earn money. Police say illegal sales of birds and animals are nearly as profitable as illegal drugs or arms trade. Worldwide, the wildlife trade is worth more than $10 billion, notes the United Nations’ Office on Drugs and Crime.

The law enforcement comes at the same time as the debate about the rights of wild animals.

This month, judges on Colombia’s constitutional court heard arguments in a case over an endangered Andean bear named Chucho. Years ago Chucho was taken from a wildlife area and sent to a zoo in Barranquilla. A lawyer successfully brought legal action to have Chucho released.

If the high court supports that ruling, it would be the first time a wild animal in Colombia has ever been given habeas corpus rights like those of human beings.

The seizure² of the 32 birds was the result of a secret police operation. In May, police seized 16 birds, including an endangered one, from small cages in three homes. Information gathered in that operation enabled the police to uncover the group that held the songbird contests.

A video published on a closed Facebook group explained the competition. While onlookers³ cheered, judges measured the loudness and the number of calls from each bird. The owner of the winning bird received $100.

Environmental officials say the birds were abused. Their captors were mostly people who had recently moved to Bogota from the Caribbean and Venezuela. The captors kept the birds in the small cages and forced them to listen to loud music all day long to make them sing. In the wild, the birds sing to defend their territory or find a mate.

“For them, it was like torture,” noted⁴ Juan Camilo Panqueba, who works as technical supervisor⁵ at Bogota’s wildlife center. There, he and others care for birds and more than 1,000 animals, many of them endangered and all taken from traffickers.

I’m Susan Shand.

Words in This Story

moment – n. part of a minute; a brief period of time

cockfighting – adj. involving or related to a competition in which chickens fight each other

biodiversity – n. biological differences in an environment as seen in the numbers of plant and animal species

zoo – n. a place where live, usually wild animals are kept for the public to see

habeas corpus – n. an order to bring a jailed person before a judge or court to find out if that person should really be in jail

1 finch   

n.雀科鸣禽(如燕雀，金丝雀等)

参考例句：

• This behaviour is commonly observed among several species of finch.这种行为常常可以在几种雀科鸣禽中看到。
• In Australia,it is predominantly called the Gouldian Finch.在澳大利亚，它主要还是被称之为胡锦雀。

2 seizure   

n.没收；占有；抵押

参考例句：

• The seizure of contraband is made by customs.那些走私品是被海关没收的。
• The courts ordered the seizure of all her property.法院下令查封她所有的财产。

3 onlookers   

n.旁观者，观看者( onlooker的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• A crowd of onlookers gathered at the scene of the crash. 在撞车地点聚集了一大群围观者。
• The onlookers stood at a respectful distance. 旁观者站在一定的距离之外，以示尊敬。

4 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

5 supervisor   

n.监督人，管理人，检查员，督学，主管，导师

参考例句：

• Between you and me I think that new supervisor is a twit.我们私下说，我认为新来的主管人是一个傻瓜。
• He said I was too flighty to be a good supervisor.他说我太轻浮不能成为一名好的管理员。