Predators fall prey to poison attacks by pigeon fanciers

Shingi Mararike

March 31 2019, 12:01am, The Sunday Times

Birds of prey are being illegally trapped and poisoned by pigeon fanciers to protect their prized racing birds, according to Scotland’s leading animal welfare charity. The Scottish Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SSPCA) has raised concerns about the activities of some pigeon breeders, who allegedly go to extreme lengths to keep their birds safe from predators such as sparrowhawks and peregrine falcons.

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This shy bird can escape a birdwatcher’s eye, but not illegal trappers' nets

21 Mar 2019

Despite its attempts to live a secretive life, the migration route of the endearingly rotund Common Quail leaves it subject to illegal trapping. Action is needed - with your help we can halt their decline and protect many other bird species at the same time.

By Cressida Stevens

The Common Quail is one of seven flagship birds in our Flight for Survival campaign to raise awareness of the scope and scale of the illegal killing of migratory birds.

The small, seemingly shy Common Quail Coturnix coturnix prefers to stay hidden amongst the rough grasses of farmland as it forages with its long, sharp claws for insects and seeds. Birdwatchers have much better chances of hearing their characteristic call than seeing them. Though a frustration to birdwatchers, their secretive behaviour is for their own good, since unfortunately when they do encounter humans it is often at their peril.

With streaked and barred brown feathers and a prominent white eye-stripe, they are distinctive in appearance, but their small and stocky build gives no allusion to the impressive flying feats this species is capable of. These birds habitually avoid flying: if disturbed, they prefer to either run away or ‘freeze’, hoping to go unnoticed. However, this changes in a spectacular fashion when, using their disproportionately long and powerful wings, they take to the skies to migrate between their breeding grounds in northern Europe and wintering grounds in the Sahel belt of sub-Saharan Africa. This makes them the only species of their order (which includes pheasants, partridges and grouse to name a few) which migrate.

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Illegal trapping at 10-year low on UK military base in Cyprus

18/03/2019

An estimated 121,000 songbirds, such as Blackcaps and European Robins, are estimated to have been illegally killed on a British military base in Cyprus during autumn 2018, according to a new report by BirdLife Cyprus and the RSPB.

While this figure is still extremely high, it represents a 10-year low and is well down from 260,000 in 2017 and 880,000 in 2016.

The success in the reduction of illegal trapping on the base is believed to be primarily due to the impact of covert surveillance work undertaken by the RSPB and BirdLife Cyprus with the Sovereign Base Area (SBA) Administration. Since the work started in 2016, some 21 trappers have been caught on camera and prosecuted, with courts imposing three-year suspended jail sentences and fines as high as € 6,000. More individuals caught in 2018 are due to appear in court later this year. The Committee Against Bird Slaughter (CABS) has also continued to provide crucial support in identifying trapping sites as highlighted by TV Presenter and campaigner Chris Packham during the last three autumns.

Along with increased enforcement and heavier sentences, the SBA authorities are also using a range of civil and criminal sanctions against the trappers, meaning they now face a double deterrent.

Songbirds are illegally trapped and killed to provide restaurants with the main ingredient for the local and expensive delicacy of ambelopoulia – a plate of cooked songbirds. Organised criminal gangs are driving this illegal activity on a huge scale and it is estimated they earn hundreds of thousands of euros every year from the songbirds they kill on British territory.

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A STAGGERING 260,000 songbirds were illegally killed on a British military base last year for Europe’s sickest food ritual.

By STUART WINTER

PUBLISHED: 15:11, Tue, Mar 6, 2018 | UPDATED: 15:25, Tue, Mar 6, 2018

Delicate birds – including Britain’s national icon, the robin – were netted and had their necks wrung by poachers operating on the UK’s sovereign base in Cyprus.

Ruthless trappers cause carnage in the dense scrublands around the base by putting up nets to catch birds migrating to Africa in autumn – and then selling their plucked corpses on the black market as expensive delicacies in a trade worth millions of euros.

Conservationists revealed today how they are taking the fight to the poaching gangs, dramatically reducing their bags and also seeing them get heavy sentences in court.

Covert operations mounted by investigators from the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and Sovereign Base Area Police have reduced the number of songbirds slaughtered illegally by 70 per cent.

Traditional bird trapping on Cyprus was outlawed 40 years ago but has since spawned a lucrative racket with criminal gangs selling the fragile corpses for a dish known as ambelopoulia.

For birds such as blackcaps, robins, nightingales, golden orioles and masked shrikes, the demand for their flesh sees them trapped in fine nets, having their necks wrung before being plucked and fried for a dish that sells for up to £75 a plate.

As ambelopoulia is banned on Cyprus, holidaymakers to island have little idea that law-breaking tavernas are serving up the dish for locals.

Increased patrols on the Sovereign Base and efforts to deter the trappers saw their bag of 880,000 birds in 2016 decrease dramatically last year.

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British military base on Cyprus - a safe haven for wildlife criminals

Over 800,000 songbirds, such as blackcaps and robins, are estimated to have been illegally killed on a British military base in Cyprus last autumn, where illegal trapping activity remains around its highest ever levels, according to a new report.

New research by the RSPB and BirdLife Cyprus shows that the number of nets used to trap birds remains around record levels on British Territory, with an increase of 183% since the illegal-killing monitoring programme began in 2002. 

The songbirds are illegally trapped and killed to provide restaurants with the main ingredient for the local and expensive delicacy of ambelopoulia- a plate of cooked songbirds. Organised crime gangs are driving this illegal activity on a huge scale and it is estimated they earn millions of Euros every year from the songbirds they kill on British territory. 

Between August and October 2016 the small British Sovereign Base Area (SBA) police force, supported by specialist surveillance help from RSPB Investigations staff, opened more cases and confiscated more mist nets - long lines of near invisible netting - than ever previously recorded. However, the SBA Administration were largely forced to abandon their most successful tool against this criminal activity- removal of the invasive Australian acacia trees which trappers have planted on MoD land in order to lure the birds in- due to the trappers organising large protests and a dramatic blockade. Whereas the Base authorities had successfully removed 54 acres of acacia in the preceding two years, this autumn they were only able to remove a further 7 acres, leaving around 90 acres of this illegal-killing infrastructure still standing on the British firing range. 

Trappers also blatantly and extensively deploy electronic calling devices on the firing range at night in order to lure in birds to their deaths and there are concerns that parts of the British firing range are effectively becoming a no-go area for the committed but significantly outnumbered local police force. 

Martin Harper, RSPB Conservation Director, said: “This report sadly highlights that the British base is the number one bird killing hotspot on the whole island of Cyprus. “Many much loved garden bird species are being trapped and killed for huge profit by criminal gangs. The trappers’ brazen prevention of the removal of their criminal infrastructure from MoD land could never be tolerated here in the UK. The UK Government must therefore provide enforcement support to help the Base authorities respond to the trappers and safely remove the remaining 90 acres of acacia so that they cannot be used to kill hundreds of thousands more birds.” 

The report estimates that over 1.7 million birds could have been killed within the survey area, which covers both the British base and Cyprus Republic areas, and nearly 2.3 million across the whole of Cyprus due to this extensive bird trapping activity. This industrial scale activity has also been confirmed in a scientific paper, published last year, where Cyprus was identified as one of the worst places for illegal bird killing in the Mediterranean. 

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Two Syrians detained 'illegally trapping rare Saker Falcons' in TransBaikal region

By Olga Gertcyk

20 October 2016

In separate case, members of a 'bird mafia' illegally snaring and exporting Red Book hawks and falcons to Middle East were detained in Buryatia.

The poachers were targeting Peregrine and Saker falcons, Merlins, and other birds. Picture: Ministry of Internal Affairs in Buryatia

Two Syrian citizens were 'caught in the act' of using a dove as bait to catch a Saker Falcon close to the village of Razdolnoye of Ononsky district of TransBaikal region, say law enforcement authorities. 

Villagers saw their suspicious behaviour and alerted the authorities. Falcons and other rare birds can fetch up to $400,000 on the black market in Gulf countries where they are used for hunting. 

The Syrians are accused of setting free a white dove with a 'catching device' attached in order to trap the falcon that swooped on the bird. 

The pair made away in a white Pajero but after a chase were caught in a joint operation by FSB border patrol officers and inspectors from Daursky Nature Reserve.

Two Syrian citizens were 'caught in the act' of using a dove as bait to catch a Saker Falcon close to the village of Razdolnoye of Ononsky district of TransBaikal region.

In the car was a saker falcon, seven live doves, and catching devices. Evidence was found of intent to export the Red Book bird. 

In the separate case, four people were detained - one from an unnamed Middle East country - in Buryatia in a joint operation by anti-corruption police and the FSB security service. 

Under their operation, captured birds were taken to the city of Irkutsk, where the suspects had rented a private house which served as a hub for shipping to the Middle East.

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Slaughter of the song birds

Songbirds are a culinary delicacy in Cyprus — but catching and eating them is illegal. Even so, the practice is on the rise and could be threatening rare species.

Shaoni Bhattacharya

26 January 2016

Mist nets are strung across flight paths to trap birds.

It wasn't until I saw the blade glinting in the sunlight that I realized how grave the situation was. Broad and belligerent in army fatigues, the man strode along the track, ranting in Greek. Behind his back, his hands flexed a knife blade in and out of its wooden handle. This man was a trapper, a poacher of birds — and he clearly didn't want company. “What are you doing here?” he demanded.

My companions and I had come to this dry scrubland on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus to look for evidence of songbird trapping. The birds are caught illegally and eaten in a traditional dish called ambelopoulia — and I was joining a September trip to monitor the extent of trapping. With me was Roger Little, a British conservation volunteer, and Savvas, a field officer with the conservation group BirdLife Cyprus whose name has been changed to protect his identity. We didn't expect to encounter trappers at this spot in the southeastern region of Cape Pyla; they usually work at night, when the birds are active. But now it seemed that they had started patrolling the site during the day. “You are on my land,” the trapper said to us in Greek.

“If this is your property, then I apologize — we didn't know, we are going,” Savvas said. We acted casual as the man escorted us back to the battered four-by-four in which we had come. “I shouldn't really be letting you go,” he muttered. Moments later, we were driving away.

Bird trapping in Cyprus has grown into a controversy that encompasses crime, culture, politics and science. The practice was made illegal more than 40 years ago — but that simply forced it underground. Today, trappers routinely cut wide corridors through vegetation and string fine 'mist nets' from poles to catch the birds, which are sent to local restaurants and quietly served. A platter of a dozen birds sells for €40–80 (US$44–87), and the trade in songbirds is responsible for an estimated annual market of €15 million. The delicacy is so prized and lucrative that it is suspected to be linked to organized crime, and those trying to stop it have been subject to intimidation and violence.

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