Right now hornbills in the Philippines are being illegally traded on Facebook.

These unique creatures, known as “farmers of the forest” for their important role in planting tree seeds across the forest floor, are facing existential threats on multiple fronts: habitat loss, hunted for sport – and being kidnapped and sold.

Hornbill traffickers often wait to poach birds when they’re at their most vulnerable - while they’re nesting with their young in tree cavities during breeding season, knowing they won’t be able to fly away. We won’t let Meta sit back and just let this happen.

But there’s something we can do about this. The company already has a policy against the live animal trade – it just has to meet its own standards! So let’s ramp up the pressure and ask Meta to do just that by deactivating the accounts of hornbill sellers!

Tell Meta: crack down on the illegal hornbill trade.

Hornbills and the forest need each other. These birds play an important ecological role of spreading seeds around the forest floor, ensuring other species are able to enjoy the fruits from trees planted by farmer hornbill. But caged in private households as exotic pets or used as wild meat, the loss of these impressive birds would be devastating for the forests they call home, with knock-on effects for biodiversity.

A new study shows how illegal traders on Facebook have been using sneaky tactics to continue trading endangered hornbills for as little as $26, such as misspelling words and using emojis to get around Facebook’s flagging system for live wild animals.

But we know that Meta can be doing so much more. As a multi billion dollar company, Meta has the resources to increase proactive monitoring efforts to put an end to the illegal hornbill trade and protect these magnificent animals.

Take action: call on Meta to end its complicity with hornbill trafficking.

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