Songbirds Trapped, Traded On Black Market In South Florida

An interview with Dina Fine Maron, a wildlife trade investigative reporter at National Geographic.

The songbirds can be sold"for hundreds of dollars" according to Dina Fine Maron, a wildlife trade investigative reporter at National Geographic. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reports that 40 protected bird species in Florida are routinely trapped, mostly songbirds like indigo buntings. In February state wildlife officials drafted a rule to protect Florida's native songbirds from illegal capture.

MARON: One of the things that really surprised me and made me realize the scale of it was when I started learning about the songbird competition angle. This is the idea that you would catch a young songbird, usually a male because the coloring is brighter, and put two together and they might naturally respond to each other ... get territorial and start to sing. That can really make a lot of money.

Another gentleman described in court documents how he would hang these illegal giant nets across a field. It's called a mist net. It's difficult to see, it's sort of like a spider web, and then he would get a truck and it would be loud and he'd drive the truck towards the net and the birds would come out frightened by the noise and they'd all get caught in the net. He'd catch dozens and dozens of these birds by using this method.

WLRN If I find people attempting to catch wild song birds for anything other than tagging, I’ll start breaking things/people. 😡🤬

WLRN Not surprising Florida probably has the highest number of illegal kept exotic animals in the US

WLRN Bullshit news ...and waste of public funds shutdownNPR defundNPR

WLRN Humankind is such a fd up species

WLRN I grew up in Florida and we used to have a large variety of beautiful song birds, I loved them as a child. Now my grandson barely knows what they are.☹️

WLRN They should capture Beto and put him in a jailbird competition

WLRN I ❤ watching the birds and listening to their songs. birds mypets mybackyard

WLRN Florida is America’s sewer.

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Songbirds Trapped, Traded On Black Market In South FloridaAbout 40 protected bird species — like the colorful indigo bunting — are routinely being trapped in Florida and smuggled into the illegal pet trade. Authorities say some are even caught to be used in songbird 'competitions.' (wlrn) WLRN call me WLRN ONLY IN FLORIDA fl happenings WLRN Horrible
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