Patrols launched to clip wings of bird poachers

NICOSIA, Cyprus — Volunteers looking for poachers that target migrating birds are on patrol in several Mediterranean countries, including Malta, Lebanon and Cyprus.

The Berlin-based Committee against Bird Slaughter, known as CABS, has launched its autumn anti-poaching operations, which take them through mostly rural areas, looking for nets, decoys and other hunting devices.

The environmentalists say their work is tough and their members have been assaulted on dozens of occasions by angry poachers.

In Cyprus, CABS teamleader Andrea Rutigliano expressed serious concern at the extent of illegal killing of migratory birds and complained about a lack of help from the authorities, which he says are no longer as helpful as they once were.

“Now we don’t have a performing police unit, which was instrumental in helping detect bird trapping . ... We need support — we will take the risk — but it is not fair that we are left alone in the field after such great cooperation,” Rutigliano said.

A recent study by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds estimated that trappers in Cyprus killed 2.3 million migrating birds in autumn 2016, up from 1.4 million in 2010 — making Cyprus the second-most deadly bird destination in the Mediterranean, after the island of Malta.

“Whilst we think the legal framework is right, I think it is the means by which it enforced that needs to be improved,” said CABS member Andrew Rose, who is currently on patrol in Cyprus.

Some of this autumn’s first migrating birds have already been trapped by hunters. Throughout September, the team is in eastern Cyprus, where despite a national and international ban on poaching, trapping represents a severe threat to birds along their migration routes.

It’s very important to take a position against the poaching, because what happens here is about all of us.”

Edwardo Quarda,

from CABS

Once snared in traps, songbirds are sold to restaurants for the illegal but widely available delicacy “ambelopoulia” — a trade worth some $18.8 million annually.

Because Cyprus is a key stopover on the migration route of many birds, including blackcaps and warblers, the trapping mainly takes place during the autumn.

New weapon

Last year, police on a British military base in Cyprus launched a new weapon in their fight against poachers, who had been responsible for large scale trapping over decades. A top-of-the-range drone, with night-vision capabilities, is already enhancing the police’s ability to cover areas which have proved difficult to reach in the past.

In many Mediterranean countries, poaching remains a lively topic of conversation, given that some locals — especially the younger generations — support hunting bans, whilst residents in many rural communities defend trapping as an ageold custom.

“It’s very important to take a position against the poaching, because what happens here is about all of us,” said Edwardo Quarda from CABS. “It concerns all the populations from Europe.”