31 Aug
2018
Illegal
hunting and trade has brought this unique hornbill to the brink. But an new
ten-year, range-wide conservation plan will ensure the Helmeted Hornbill has a
future outside of China's markets
Conservation
organizations from across the world have developed an
ambitious ten-year plan to save a Critically Endangered bird
that has been driven to the brink of extinction by illegal hunting.
The
Helmeted Hornbill Rhinoplax
vigil has declined sharply in recent years, following soaring demand
for its striking red casque – which uniquely among hornbills is solid, and can
be carved into decorative artifacts, for which there is huge demand in China.
Currently,
a single casque can fetch more than $1,000 on the black market, a price higher
than that of ivory. Organized crime networks became involved in the bird’s
hunting and trade, and as a result of this unsustainable demand, the Helmeted
Hornbill’s numbers have plummeted such that the species was uplisted from Near
Threatened to Critically Endangered (the highest possible category) in our 2015
reassessment of the species’ extinction risk.
The
Hornbill is found in the forests of Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Myanmar and
Brunei. It is seldom seen, but once spotted is very distinctive, with a
wrinkled naked throat, yellow beak, and large red casque for which it is both
named and hunted.
Helmeted
Hornbills are largely threatened in their habitat by local hunters, who are
recruited by organized criminal gangs. In their effort to secure a Helmeted
Hornbill, these hunters will shoot down nearly every large hornbill, hoping
that it will turn out to be Helmeted. Once killed, the Hornbill heads are
smuggled to ports in Java, Kalimantan and Sumatra, and are then most likely
transported to Hong Kong and Shenzhen.
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