A PUBLIC campaign is being launched by Chester Zoo in an attempt to save the critically endangered Indonesian songbirds from widespread extinction.

As part of the major new 'Sing For Songbirds' campaign the zoo’s Safari Ranger outreach team are working directly with schools in the UK and Indonesia.

Millions of songbirds are captured illegally in Indonesian forests every year with South East Asian songbirds among the worst affected but least publicised victims.

The illegal wildlife trade being the fourth largest international crime in the world worth around $19bn annually.

The beautiful birds are being sold in markets as part of the illegal trade and are then kept in small cages as status symbols or used in singing competitions.

As the birds become rarer, their value increases, creating a growing desire to capture them.

Hundreds of species of songbirds are facing an even more uncertain future than more high profile threatened species such as rhinos, pandas and elephants.

Chester Zoo, the UK’s most visited tourist attraction outside London, hopes to raise vital funds to help conservation efforts and increase awareness of the urgent need for action.

Bird keepers at the zoo have already had success with vital breeding programmes for critically endangered species such as the Javan green magpie. 

Musician Ashley Fayth is showing her support by donating the proceeds from her latest single, ‘Sing For Songbirds’, towards the fight.

Curator of birds at Chester Zoo Andrew Owen said: “Wildlife crime is affecting a range of high profile species, from rhinos to elephants, but the devastating impact on songbirds is slipping under the radar.

"The forests in Indonesia are now so silent but the markets are full of the sounds of caged birds - most of them in awful condition.

"Birds are often bought in the same way we buy flowers – something beautiful to admire for a few days until they wilt away and die.

“We won’t stand back and let these beautiful birds disappear from our planet and we desperately need your help.

"It’s now or never.

"It’s time to act for songbirds.

“It will be incredibly hard to change the culture of people keeping songbirds in small cages but with more education, awareness and protection of suitable secure habitat, by conservationists and our brilliant Indonesian partners, we have a chance to save these species from extinction.

"We must act now.”