18/12/2017
New research in the
journal Bird Conservation International has exposed the shocking
scale and scope of the illegal killing and trapping of wild birds in northern
and central Europe and the Caucasus. The paper Illegal
killing and taking of birds in Europe outside the Mediterranean: assessing the
scope and scale of a complex issue estimates that 0.4-2.1
million individual birds per year may be killed illegally in the regions
covered – mainly for ‘sport’ or ‘predator/pest’ control.
The illegal killing of birds
remains a major threat in Europe, despite the fact that 28 of the countries
recently assessed by BirdLife are parties to the legally binding Bern
Convention (on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats), and
19 are also Member States of the European Union, obliged to implement its
benchmark nature laws, the Birds and Habitats Directives.
The new paper offers a first
scientific baseline on illegal killing of birds in those parts of Europe. The
bird groups most seriously affected in terms of absolute numbers are waterbirds
and seabirds, followed by passerines. In Azerbaijan alone, between 160,000 and
900,000 waterbirds are estimated to be killed illegally every year; raptors, as
well as pigeons and doves, are also badly affected. The bird group with the
highest percentage of species affected is the raptors, with 51 out of 52
species assessed in danger of illegal killing.
In the Caucasus, the main driver
behind illegal bird killing is ‘sport’ and food, while in northern and central
Europe, the major motivation is predator and so-called ‘pest’ control. Of the
worst 20 ‘blackspots’ for illegal killing identified in these regions, 10 are
in Azerbaijan, but EU countries such as Germany, The Netherlands and Bulgaria
also feature.
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