An image of an orange monarch butterfly. This is not the birdwing butterflies from the Solomon Islands. (file image) Photo: Copyright: blanscape
Environmental advocates from the Solomon Islands are concerned wildlife trade is destroying the country's unique ecosystem.
It follows a New York man being accused of smuggling US$200,000 worth of dead insects into the United States, including rare butterflies from the Solomon Islands.
Charles Limmer, 75, was charged with trafficking the rare bugs.
Rare butterflies trafficked into US from Solomon Islands
According to a six-count federal indictment filed in the Eastern District of New York, Limmer smuggled wildlife into the US by labelling shipments as "decorative wall coverings" and "origami paper craft".
Last month, Limmer received two birdwing butterflies from the Solomon Islands and listed them for sale for around US$480.
Solomon Islands Nature Conservancy acting director Peter Walde said the country was a target for wildlife trade.
"The species that are most targeted of course are those that are rarer, and so a country like the Solomon Islands has a really high level of endemism or species that are found nowhere else in the world," Walde said.
Solomon Islands ecologist Dr Patrick Pikacha said wildlife trade had been on the rise since 2015.
Endemic parrots, monkey tail skinks, and birdwing butterflies are all high target species.
"Insects are a regular traded wildlife exported overseas, mostly ornithoptera, which is the type of butterfly picked up by customs in New York," Dr Pikacha said.
Dr Pikacha said wildlife trade "sits quite high" on the list of problems that puts pressure on endemic species - up there with logging.
Solomon Islands is the only Pacific country that trades in live wildlife, he said.
"It's a very hush, hush industry.
"We're the only people that are looking at the industry and sort of raising alarms."
Papua New Guinea trades crocodile skins and meat, but Dr Pikacha said it comes from sustainable farms, while in the Solomon Islands all species are caught in the wild, even if they're labelled as a captive breed.
Pikacha said collectors are now looking for island-specific species.
"We really need to be careful because these species can become extirpated from islands."
Dr Pikacha said the country was also "laundering" birds from other nations like Papua New Guinea and selling them as species originating from Solomon Islands.
'People who take advantage'
The South Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) threatened species adviser Karen Baird said wildlife trade can happen in a sustainable way and in most cases in the Pacific it does.
"Generally speaking, trade is set up to ensure trade is legal and sustainable and that's generally what we see," she said.
"But of course there is always going to be people who take advantage of any situation and engage in trade which is against countries' best interests."
She said sustainable and legal wildlife trade is an important source of income for many Pacific communities.