From Smithsonian.com:
When the Harry Potter books debuted 20 years ago, they launched a $25 billion industry and an army of wizard-loving muggles. Most of the fun is light-hearted enough: popular sorting hat quizzes, friendly games of quidditch. But that international obsession has an unexpected cost, reports Shaunacy Ferro for Mental Floss: It’s fueling an illegal trade in owls.
The books are filled with owls, from Harry’s BFF Hedwig to Draco Malfoy’s mail-delivering eagle owl. But those fictional owls could be linked with a black market in the real world, reports Ferro.
In a new study in the journal Global Ecology and Conservation, researchers describe what they call the “Harry Potter Effect” in Indonesia. Birds are already popular pets there. But after the release of the Harry Potter books in the early 2000s, owls rose in popularity. The creatures rarely appeared in bird markets before the books were released, the researchers write, only constituting roughly 0.06 of the percent of the black market birds. But by 2008, that number has risen to 0.43 percent.
Majority of owls for sale in the markets were caught in the wild, which is illegal in Indonesia. And the researchers worry that growing demand could deplete owls in the wild.
Expanded internet access and social media in Indonesia during this period could also have played into the owl trade increase. Though this could be a non-Harry Potter related reason for the uptick, the internet could also have paved the way for wider conversation about the books online. But there are other clues to the Harry Potter trade connection: “Whereas in the past owls were collective known as Burung Hantu (“Ghost birds”),” the researchers write in the study, “in the bird markets they are now commonly referred to as Burung Harry Potter (‘Harry Potter birds’).”
Link to the rest at Smithsonian.com
And Apple sparks illegal attacks on people foolish enough to be seen exposing their iphones and ipads.
There are those that will do illegal things because there’s money to be made.
“Whereas in the past owls were collective known as Burung Hantu (“Ghost birds”),” the researchers write in the study, “in the bird markets they are now commonly referred to as Burung Harry Potter (‘Harry Potter birds’).”
Or the sellers were hoping a new ‘name’ will sell a bird that didn’t sell all that well before.
“… only constituting roughly 0.06 of the percent of the black market birds. But by 2008, that number has risen to 0.43 percent.”
So the last numbers they quote are almost ten years old? Did they keep going up – or did current numbers not make for such a great headline?
And an owl is harder to feed/take care of as I understand it (while I’ve had birds they were never owls or hawks.)
I would also note that “conservationists” are rabidly opposed to expanding legal, regulated captive breeding.
When there is not enough “product” for the white market, the black market thrives.