Soham Mukherjee

Illegal trade in native wild birds persists in Ahmedabad (Gujarat, India), with increasing demand reportedly linked to bulk purchase for “mercy” or symbolic release during religious occasions and public events. We conducted a preliminary, moderate-resource assessment by triangulating information from undercover visits to local bird-trade interfaces, stakeholder inputs from rescue/rehabilitation systems and wildlife volunteers, limited practitioner insights from veterinarians, and a citizen-science reporting form (34 reports). Using aggregated and rounded estimates derived from these sources, approximately 13,200 native birds were estimated to be traded annually in Ahmedabad, dominated by parakeets (three Psittacula spp.) and small estrildid finches (“munias”). The trade was inferred to be primarily release-driven (approximately 85% of volume), with pet-keeping contributing a smaller proportion (approximately 15%), and munias reported as exclusively traded for release. Welfare impacts were consistently described across sources, including severe debility and high short-term mortality within consignments. Rescue centres were reported to receive approximately 2,500-4,000 trade-origin birds annually, reflecting a substantial downstream burden. Findings are presented as order-of-magnitude baselines and are intentionally reported in a low-disclosure format to minimise operational misuse.

DOI: 10.22271/23940522.2025.v12.i6b.1158

Pages: 107-110  |  164 Views  100 Downloads