Hornbills in peril due to online trade in Thailand

The results of a six-month online survey highlight the dire plight of Asia's hornbills, as online trade in body parts continues unabated.

The report, produced by TRAFFIC, found a minimum of 236 online posts offering at least 546 hornbill parts and products in 32 of 40 groups surveyed on Facebook. These were posted over a period of 64 months, spanning from June 2014 to April 2019.

Helmeted Hornbill parts and products constituted 452 (83 per cent) of all hornbill commodities recorded. This finding was of particular concern because trade in this species has risen over the past decade, driven by demand for its solid bill casque, carved and used as an alternative to elephant ivory, particularly in China and increasingly in other Asian markets.

Facebook is a key outlet for illegal trade of Helmeted Hornbill parts and conservationists are demanding the social media giant does more to prevent adverts such as the above being placed on its pages (TRAFFIC).

Maethinee Phassaraudomsak, lead author of the report, explained: "This is the first systematic study providing evidence that the trade in Helmeted Hornbill parts and products exists in Thailand – a range state and outside previously documented open trade in China and Lao PDR."

Government delegates have agreed that stronger measures to eliminate trade threats affecting the species, with updates on progress to be reported at future CITES meetings.

Populations of the rare Helmeted Hornbill, whose charismatic call epitomises the sounds of rainforests across South-East Asia, have rapidly declined in recent years as a result of illegal hunting and trafficking. All hornbill species are listed in CITES Appendix I or II, prohibiting or regulating international trade, while Helmeted Hornbill was recently uplisted on the IUCN Red List of threatened species to Critically Endangered, meaning it faces an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild.

Although online research commenced in October 2018, TRAFFIC researchers observed that posts offering Helmeted Hornbills went as far back as 2014, with peaks recorded in 2016 and 2018, ranging from 162 to 171 individual Helmeted Hornbill products offered for sale.

Seizure data indicate that the poaching hotspots for the species are in Kalimantan and Sumatra, Indonesia, but there has been little information on poaching and trade of Helmeted Hornbills in Thailand.

A recently decapitated Helmeted Hornbill head found in West Kalimantan, Indonesia (Hadiprakarsa / Rangkong.org).

It could not be determined if the hornbill casques were sourced from within Thailand or from other range states, although in one instance, a post claimed that the advertised casque piece was from Malaysia.

The study also found that 94 whole heads of eight other hornbill species, all native to Thailand and prohibited from hunting and trade by Thai legislation, made up the rest of the hornbill commodities recorded in the survey.

Although Thai government authorities have successfully carried out enforcement action in at least five known online cases involving hornbills, trading activity is persistent. Cursory checks on the 32 target groups in August 2019 showed that Helmeted Hornbill products were still being offered.

However, a number of pages and posts have since been deleted. This could be due to effort taken by Facebook and law enforcement agencies. But continued monitoring and investigations in these and other groups would be important to ascertain the status of the online trade in Helmeted and other hornbills in Thailand.

Taking down posts serves to reduce opportunities for buyers to make a purchase. But our years of monitoring online trade clearly show that when posts are taken down, trade activity simply resumes after a brief lull when traders lay low to avoid detection

Kanitha Krishnasamy, TRAFFIC's Director for South-East Asia and co-author of the report, commented: "We fully recognise that tackling the illegal wildlife trade online comes with its own set of challenges, but key to any success is to pursue investigations and collaboration with all the right partners."

Helmeted Hornbill is among the most spectacular of all hornbill species (Hornbill Research Foundation).

In August 2018, a 10-year Conservation Strategy and Action Plan for the Helmeted Hornbill was launched, under the auspices of the IUCN Helmeted Hornbill Working Group.

As part of its continued engagement with the Coalition to End Wildlife Trafficking Online, Facebook introduced a policy in April 2019 to ban the trade of all live animals on their platform from non-verified physical businesses, as well as all endangered species and their products across the platform, including Helmeted Hornbill.

TRAFFIC has urged Thai authorities and Facebook continue their vigilance and work closely to develop joint strategies to track and tackle the issue of online trafficking in one of South-East Asia's emblematic bird species. Social media users can do their part too and report suspicious posts to social media sites reporting tools or law enforcement.