A short conversation with Martin Hellicar, Campaigns Manager for BirdLife Cyprus (BLC), following the recent release of BLC’s ‘Trapping Monitoring Report’ which covered this year’s winter season – between December 2010 and February 2011 – and which stated that “over 231,000 birds were caught in nets within the survey area during the 2010-11 winter season”. The report also gave the staggering estimate of almost 2.5 million birds trapped across the whole of Cyprus in 2010.
Why are so many birds dying, and what can be done to stop this huge and inexcusable slaughter?
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Show Notes
“BirdLife Cyprus is the Cyprus representative of BirdLife International – a globally active conservation organization that operates in over 100 countries and territories worldwide and is the recognized global authority on birds.
BirdLife Cyprus aims to promote the study and protection of the birds of Cyprus and their habitats, and to enable the citizens of Cyprus and other countries to play their part in achieving this goal
BirdLife Cyprus is working to bring an end to illegal bird trapping. Birds trapped on limesticks and in nets die a horrible death and are then sold for profit to be eaten as an expensive ‘delicacy’. Many birds of threatened species fall foul to the indiscriminate nets and glue sticks. A recent opinion poll showed that the majority of Cypriots are against this illegal activity.”
- The BirdLife Cyprus website (English): http://www.birdlifecyprus.org/
- Cyprus bird trapping surveillance project – Winter 2010/11 (pdf): http://migration.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/birdlifecyprus_winter2010-11trappingsurvey_final_website.pdf
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