Cyprus Bird death toll reaches one million

Birds illegally killed in Cyprus for local restaurant delicacy
October 2011: A million birds have been illegally trapped and killed already this autumn in Cyprus, one of the UK 's favourite holiday destinations.

BirdLife Cyprus, the RSPB's BirdLife partner on the island, estimates that more than a million birds have been slaughtered since the beginning of September, as the island's illegal bird-trapping season got under way.

The death toll has been estimated following BirdLife's field-monitoring of trapping activity as part of its ongoing systematic surveillance programme. The birds, including whitethroats and blackcaps, are killed to supply restaurants with the local delicacy ambelopoulia.

Autumn trappers target birds which are migrating between Europe and Africa.

One bird trapped every four secondsMartin Hellicar, campaigns manager of BirdLife Cyprus, said: ‘So far this autumn more than a million birds have been killed illegally using mist nets and limesticks in Cyprus and the toll continues to rise each day. We know that the autumn season is the main trapping period and this number is certain to become much bigger by the end of the month unless decisive action is taken now to back up enforcement efforts.'

Tim Stowe, the RSPB's international director commented: ‘An average of one bird every four seconds is being trapped and killed in Cyprus right now. Shocking as that statistic may be, the real surprise is that many of these birds have been killed within a short distance of the island's holiday hotspots, such as Ayia Napa, and a substantial number have been killed inside the UK administered Sovereign Base Areas, especially Dhekelia.

This island will become the shame of Europe‘This slaughter is completely illegal under European, Cyprus and Sovereign Base Area law. It beggars belief how Cyprus - a member of the European Union - and the Sovereign Base Area authorities can allow this massacre to continue year after year. It's time that Cyprus and the UK administrations got a grip of this problem before the island becomes the shame of Europe.'

BirdLife Cyprus has launched an appeal to gather signatures in a petition that will be sent to Cyprus ministers urging them to take action. The petition has already exceeded 11,000 names. The charity is also calling for decisive action against the restaurants serving the trapped birds, for targeted enforcement against big, organised trapping operations, and for tougher sentences for convicted trappers.

‘Such levels of trapping constitute an ecological disaster. Non-selective trapping is taking place on a large scale to feed the demand for banned ambelopoulia delicacies. We want to communicate the scale of this slaughter to the generally indifferent public in order to make them more aware of the issue and its ecological impact,' Martin Hellicar added.

89,225 birds slaughtered…so far! – Sign the petition to stop it now!

BirdLife Cyprus reveals online bird trapping death toll counter for the current autumn migration

BirdLife Cyprus has just published online (www.birdlifecyprus.org) an estimated death toll from the illegal bird trapping taking place in Cyprus during this autumn migration season. The toll has been estimated on the basis of field data from BirdLife’s ongoing field monitoring of trapping activity with mist nets and limesticks, part of a systematic surveillance programme. This first estimate -89,225 birds- represents the number of birds killed between Thursday 1st September and Sunday 11th September 2011. The estimate will be updated every Monday until the end of October. BirdLife Cyprus is posting this death toll on its website to highlight the urgency of the situation and as a call for action to halt this slaughter!

“We estimate that, so far this autumn, some 89,000 birds have been killed illegally using mist nets and limesticks in Cyprus. We know that the autumn season is the main trapping period and this number is certain to get much bigger over the next 2 months, unless decisive action is taken now to back up enforcement efforts”, said Martin Hellicar, Campaigns Manager of BirdLife Cyprus.

In July, the ‘European Conference on Illegal Killing of Birds’ that took place in Larnaca, concluded with a clear ‘zero tolerance’ message and an urgent call for appropriate measures to stop the bird slaughter. BirdLife Cyprus is now calling for words to be turned into action by all competent authorities at all levels. BirdLife Cyprus is once again calling for decisive action against the restaurants serving the trapped birds, for targeted enforcement against big, organised trapping operations and for tougher sentences for convicted trappers.

In autumn 2010 BirdLife Cyprus estimated that 1.4 million birds were killed by trappers in the Famagusta and Larnaca Districts, an unprecedented death toll resulting in the highest trapping levels recorded since 2002, when BirdLife Cyprus begun its systematic monitoring of trapping activity.

“Such levels of trapping constitute an ecological disaster. Non-selective trapping is taking place on a large scale to feed the demand for banned ambelopoulia delicacies. We want to communicate the scale of this slaughter to the generally indifferent public in order to make them more aware of the issue and its ecological impact”, Hellicar added.

The details of the death toll estimation and the methodology can be found on BirdLife Cyprus’ website, together with information on why bird trapping with mist nets and limesticks is such a big ecological issue.

TO SIGN THE PETITION PLEASE CLICK HERE!

http://www.birdlife.org/community/2011/09/89225-birds-slaughtered%e2%80%a6so-far-sign-the-petition-to-stop-it-now/?so-far-sign-the-petition-to-stop-it-now/