Salmon-crested cockatoo  (Cacatua moluccensis)

Its exquisite beauty has made the salmon-crested cockatoo a much sought after cage-bird, with extensive and unsustainable trapping for the pet trade causing its population to rapidly plummet (5). By the 1980s, the bird was being exported in its thousands, with an estimated 74,509 individuals exported from Indonesia between 1981 and 1990 (5), stemmed only slightly in 1987 by the Indonesian Direction Directorate General of Forest Protection and Nature Conservation banning exports from Seram (4). Despite this ban, birds were still found in the bird markets in both Ambon and Jakarta in 1990, and still, the illegal trade continues (4). The population decline can also be attributed to large-scale forest loss, degradation and fragmentation as a result of logging operations, settlement and hydroelectric projects (4) (5). Historically at least, the salmon-crested cockatoo has also been persecuted as a crop pest on coconut plantations (5).

The salmon-crested cockatoo was placed on CITES Appendix II in 1981, the European Union banned its importation in 1988, and in 1989 it was upgraded to Appendix I of CITES, helping to curtail trade at the international level (6). The species occurs in Manusela National Park on Seram, although the level of protection actually afforded to the bird and its habitat is unclear, and logging continues in some areas within the boundaries. A programme aimed at raising local awareness of the plight of this endemic bird has recently been launched, and attempts have been made to link the species' preservation with the promotion of ecotourism (5). Between zoos and private collectors, there are estimated to be over 10,000 of these stunning birds in captivity. Ironically, the species' popularity as a cage-bird, which has contributed so dramatically to its decline in the wild, may now one day prove critical to the survival of the species (4).