Taxonomic Composition, Trade Networks, and Consumer Demand in China’s Illegal Bird Trade: Evidence from Court Verdicts (2014–2021)

Illegal wildlife trade (IWT) is a major driver of biodiversity loss, and birds are among the most heavily trafficked taxa. Although China has one of the world’s largest wildlife markets, the spatial, temporal, and taxonomic structure of its domestic illegal bird trade remains poorly characterized. We retrieved and analyzed 1427 first-instance criminal verdicts issued between 2014 and 2021 from China Judgments Online, using descriptive and trade-network analyses to identify the key traded species, temporal patterns and major trading regions. The trade involved 19 orders, 48 families and 266 species, of which 37 were listed as threatened (CR, EN and VU) on the Red List of China’s Vertebrates and 24 were Class I nationally protected. Psittaciformes appeared in the greatest number of verdicts, and the recorded purposes indicate that they were traded mainly to meet experiential demand. Annual verdict counts rose steadily from 2014 to 2019 and then declined sharply, reaching 40 in 2021. Illegal bird trade was documented in 30 provincial-level regions and was concentrated in southwestern and southeastern China. Weighted by the number of verdicts, Guangdong was the leading province and Guangzhou the leading Chinese prefecture. Of the 1001 verdicts with a geolocatable origin and destination, 90.81% involved transactions over distances of less than 500 km. These findings improve understanding of China’s illegal bird trade and can inform law enforcement and public-awareness campaigns.