Dear Members,
Plight of the Helmeted Hornbill
The Helmeted Hornbill is a remarkable creature. It is the largest Hornbill in Asia. It is the only Hornbill with a solid casque on its bill, used by males in mid-air head-butting contests. Unfortunately, that same casque may make the Helmeted Hornbill the Bornean bird species most likely to become extinct in the next decade.
Hornbill “ivory”, as the casque material is misleadingly known, has been a trade good between Borneo and China for centuries. From about 2012 onward, though, demand for Helmeted Hornbill casques in China has gone through the roof. Ounce for ounce, hornbill casques are now worth considerably more than elephant ivory on the Chinese black market. As a consequence, poachers are rapidly wiping out hornbill populations in Indonesia, including in Kalimantan. Sarawak’s populations may be next – and hornbill casques smuggled from Indonesia have already been confiscated in Kuching. Last year, an international workshop was held in Kubah National Park to develop a global action plan to save the species.
Join us for a presentation on this remarkable bird, the threats facing its survival, and the efforts being made to save it. Dr. Ronald Orenstein, drawing on presentations by international experts, will bring us up to date on the Helmeted Hornbill and its conservation throughout its range, and Oswald Braken Tisen will inform us about the situation here in Sarawak. Both speakers are members of the IUCN Hornbill Specialist Group and its Working Group on the Helmeted Hornbill.
Hornbill “ivory”, as the casque material is misleadingly known, has been a trade good between Borneo and China for centuries. From about 2012 onward, though, demand for Helmeted Hornbill casques in China has gone through the roof. Ounce for ounce, hornbill casques are now worth considerably more than elephant ivory on the Chinese black market. As a consequence, poachers are rapidly wiping out hornbill populations in Indonesia, including in Kalimantan. Sarawak’s populations may be next – and hornbill casques smuggled from Indonesia have already been confiscated in Kuching. Last year, an international workshop was held in Kubah National Park to develop a global action plan to save the species.
Join us for a presentation on this remarkable bird, the threats facing its survival, and the efforts being made to save it. Dr. Ronald Orenstein, drawing on presentations by international experts, will bring us up to date on the Helmeted Hornbill and its conservation throughout its range, and Oswald Braken Tisen will inform us about the situation here in Sarawak. Both speakers are members of the IUCN Hornbill Specialist Group and its Working Group on the Helmeted Hornbill.
A public talk organised by MNS Kuching Branch.
Date: Thursday 1st March 2018
Venue: Lower Baruk, Islamic Information Centre, Jalan Ong Tiang Swee, Kuching
Time: 7.30pm - 9.00pm
In order to facilitate seating arrangements, please reply by return email if you wish to attend the talk.
Thank you & best regards,
Audrey Dominic Neng
Secretariat
MNS Kuching
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