French campaigners go to EU over hunting and trapping of birds

Official complaint lodged with EU says rules breached on hunting and trapping

Kim Willsher in Paris

Mon 1 Apr 2019 17.48 BSTLast modified on Tue 2 Apr 2019 07.32 BST

Bird protection campaigners are to lodge an official complaint with the European Union accusing France of breaking rules on hunting and trapping and failing to protect endangered species.

The Ligue pour la Protection des Oiseaux (LPO) is using the 40th anniversairy of the EU’s “bird directive”, which outlaws the “massive or non-selective” killing of birds to highlight what it deems cruel and illegal methods.

These includes gluesticks covered in adhesive lime and set in trees or bushes to catch birds when they land, traps that crush the birds with heavy stones, and nooses.

The LPO says it was forced to act after the French government refused to respond to its complaints and the state council approved gluesticks, saying the method was traditional and there was no other satisfactory method of trapping the birds.

Stone crush traps, once banned for a century, were legalised in France in 2005 and are also considered unnecessarily cruel as often the birds do not die instantly.

Read on

Man, 39, trapped wild birds by putting super-strong glue on feeders in his garden so he could keep them in cages in his house

Police raided home of Julius Gadzor in Kent after tip off from the RSPCA

They found wild birds trapped in cages and feeder and branch smeared in glue

Gadzor has avoided jail after an unusual prosecution for keeping wild birds 

By RICHARD SPILLETT, CRIME CORRESPONDENT FOR MAILONLINE

PUBLISHED: 12:16, 19 November 2018 | UPDATED: 13:25, 19 November 2018

A 'cruel' man who put strong glue on a nut feeder and tree branch so he could catch garden birds to keep in his home has avoided jail.

Julius Gadzor, of Gravesend, Kent, covered the feeder with rat glue before showing off the wild finches in cages in his home.

The 39-year-old was charged with the unusual crimes of possessing wild birds, using bird lime and possessing items used for trapping birds after an investigation by Kent Police and the RSPCA. 

Julian Gadzor was prosecuted after using strong glue to catch wild birds for his home

Photos from his Facebook show the many cages, some tiny, which he used to house the birds

Gadzor's Facebook page, which claims he went to school in Slovakia, shows he was not afraid of showing off the wild finches and other colourful garden birds he caught.

In one photo, he wrote: 'My wall hahaha', next to the picture of 12 birds in eight cages. It is unclear however whether the birds pictured are those he trapped.

Another photo shows a greenfinch, common in many British gardens, in a cage.

Police today released photos of the branch and feeder which Gadzor had put glue on to catch the birds. 

Gadzor was given a 28-day curfew order when he appeared at Medway Magistrates' Court last Monday, and also ordered to pay £300 in costs and a £85 victim surcharge. 

Source 

Malta in hot water over trapping of protected birds

By Samuel White | EURACTIV.com

 Nov 9, 2017

Malta opened its wild bird trapping season in October, disregarding its EU accession promise to outlaw the practice and a pending case at the European Court of Justice.

The tradition of trapping wild songbirds to keep in captivity is deeply rooted in Maltese society. Trappers use live decoys to attract migrating finches, which are highly prized for their song, to their nets.

But the controversial trapping practice has landed Malta in hot water with environmental NGOs and the EU courts. Not only are finches protected under EU law – like all wild birds – but the use of nets is not a permitted method of capture.

After banning the practice in 2009 to respect the EU’s Birds Directive and uphold a promise it made before joining the EU in 2004, Malta backtracked in 2013. Courting favour with trappers, the newly-elected Labour government reopened the trapping season using a derogation supporters say is justified by the small scale of the activity.

“The Birds Directive is designed to allow these culturally important small-scale traditional hunting activities,” said Ludwig Willnegger, secretary-general of the European Federation of Associations for Hunting and Conservation (FACE).

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British bases in Cyprus get drone to fight bird trappers

Posted on 21 September 2017 - 06:46pm

LARNACA, Cyprus: Police on a British military base in Cyprus on Thursday launched their latest weapon in the fight against illegal bird trappers – a high-tech drone.

A recent study by Britain's Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), said Cypriot trappers killed 2.3 million migrating birds in autumn 2016, up from 1.4 million in 2010.

Size for size that makes Cyprus the second-most deadly bird destination in the Mediterranean, after Malta.

And most of the industrial killing takes place within British military-controlled areas, especially the eastern sovereign base of Dhekelia, outside the south coast resort of Larnaca.

After Cyprus gained independence in 1960, Britain retained sovereignty over two base areas covering some 254km² of the island's territory where it runs its own police and courts.

British authorities said the drone would mainly be used by an action team dedicated to combating illegal bird trapping due to the crystal clear imagery it can generate from great heights at a top speed of more than 80km per hour.

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Indian myna birds could be getting more intelligent, Canberra bird action group says

666 ABC Canberra By Hannah Walmsley with Genevieve Jacobs

Posted about 10 hours agoTue 27 Jan 2015, 4:48am

A resurgence of the Indian myna bird population in Canberra could result from the birds outsmarting the community trapping program.

Canberra's Indian Myna Action Group president Bill Handke said that while the population of Indian mynas had been successfully controlled, the group had been forced to explore new trapping methods.

"We hear more stories now of mynas not going near traps and even, disturbingly, teaching their young not to go near traps," Mr Handke told 666 ABC Canberra.

"I suspect Indian myna birds have worked out traps are bad news."

The Indian myna bird is considered a pest, competing with native wildlife for food and habitat.

"The problems with Indian mynas is that [they] take over the hollows of nesting birds like the rosella and kookaburra and cockatoo," Mr Handke said.

"[They also] drive birds out of gardens and prey on small birds, their chicks, and eggs."

Indian myna numbers spiked in the mid 1990s with the species becoming the third-most common in Canberra.

A backyard trapping program formed in 2006 by the Canberra Myna Bird Action Group drastically reduced the number of the pest species.

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Wild birds such as goldfinches and chaffinches caught with traps, nets and glue then sold in Kingsnorth, Ashford, and across Kent say police and RSPB

Wild birds are being snatched from gardens and fields across Kent before being sold illegally.

Goldfinches, chaffinches and other attractive small birds are being caught using traps, nets and GLUE in what police are describing as a network of organised crime.

PC Michael "Geordie" Laidlow from the police's rural partnership team is one of six Kent officers dedicated to dealing with wildlife, environmental and heritage crime.

He said: "The theft of wild birds seems to be on the increase throughout Kent. It's something we come across quite often. There are networks of thieves operating across the county – I would call it low-level organised crime.

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CABS find ‘bird cemetery’ in Mizieb & Quail trapping site on Gozo

Published on Monday, 5, May, 2014 at 15:59 in Gozo News | No Comments

Volunteers of the Committee Against Bird Slaughter (CABS) have found another ´bird cemetery´ in the Mizieb woodland, the organisation said today.

According to CABS the remains of a total of 10 protected birds – 5 Marsh Harriers, 1 Montagu´s Harrier, 1 Honey Buzzard, 1 Hoopoe, 1 Nightjar and a Cuckoo – have been found concealed underneath stones in the eastern part of the area last Thursday.

“The Nightjar and the Cuckoo definitely died during this year´s spring hunting season whereas the other birds appear to have been killed and hidden last autumn,” CABS Press Officer Axel Hirschfeld said.

“The police were called as soon as the first dead birds were uncovered. All carcasses have been seized as evidence. In contrast to the years 2009 and 2010 when birdwatchers found more than 270 dead protected birds in all parts of Mizieb the finds from last week were limited to a small section of the area close to Xemxija hill. “

CABS called on the authorities to conduct a comprehensive inquiry and publish the results as soon as possible. Axel Hirschfeld, “the public has a right to know what is going on in Mizieb which the FKNK claims to manage as a hunting reserve for its members.”

Despite several requests made to the authorities, the outcome of the investigations from 2009 and 2010 have never been published. “If the new government really means business they should not repeat this mistake and move towards total transparancy,” CABS General Secretary Alexander Heyd declared.

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Man arrested in connection with attempted trapping of birds of prey

A MAN has been arrested in connection with wildlife crimes in the North-east.

He was reported to the procurator fiscal in connection with the attempted trapping of birds of prey.

The man was arrested as a result of a joint operation between Police Scotland and the RSPB in the Deeside area.

Superintendent George Macdonald said: “Throughout Aberdeenshire and Moray, we have a number of highly trained and skilled officers who have a detailed understanding of wildlife crime and appropriate investigation skills.

“Along with partner agencies, we are keen to take action when such crimes occur.”

http://www.eveningexpress.co.uk/news/local/man-arrested-in-connection-with-attempted-trapping-of-birds-of-prey-1.311675

Trap pine martens to protect capercaillie, say gamekeepers

Pine martens should be trapped and relocated away from capercaillie breeding areas, the Scottish Gamekeeper's Association has said.

The organisation said removing the predator would help to halt a decline in numbers of the rare bird.

The SGA's suggestion of trialling the trapping and transfer of pine martens is not supported by RSPB Scotland or Scottish Natural Heritage.

The mammals are legally protected and the subject of conservation work.

Foxes, crows and birds of prey also hunt capercaillie.

Bad weather, loss of habitat and collisions with deer fences have also been blamed for deaths of the birds.

The SGA said not enough was being done to control pine martens and capercaillie were "doomed" to extinction if measures were not taken.

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