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| Greenshank - fewer trappings reported in Malta |
AN
upbeat note has been sounded on the campaign to combat killing of songbirds in
southern Europe and beyond.
The
Committee Against Bird Slaughter has provided the following, mostly
positive, update on the outcome of its
activities this month.
France: Ortolan bunting trapping ceases
A CABS bird protection camp in the Southern French department of Les Landes at the beginning of September has produced a great result: we could not find a single active Ortolan buting trapping site. From hundreds of trapping sites in 2011, it went back to five active sites in 2017. Now there is apparently no active Ortolan trapping. For seven years, we have fought against the illegal capture of the endangered bunting species and have finally struck a victory despite extensive opposition from politicians and the criminal poachers!
Malta: Wader trapping dwindles
As in the south of France, a similar pattern is emerging on Malta: Thanks to our work, the illegal trapping of waders such as dotterel, ringed plover, sandpipers and greenshanks (using clapnets and decoys around artificial ponds) is almost at a complete standstill. Again, we rely on conducting aerial surveys to easily discover and film the nets. While we typically had more than 20 active traps five years ago, there are just four during this late part of summer. The sites have been reported to the police and we await the results of their follow-up investigations.
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| Maltese reprieve for ringed plovers |
In Northern Italy, Brescia, we usually run our bird protection camp in October. However, we deployed a small team to the region during late August/ early September to conduct field investigations and monitor the scale of illegal poaching of pied flycatchers with snap traps. The results were worrying. We found eight active trapping installations. Nine individuals were convicted, and 180 traps, 16 mistnets, 6 small clapnets and 26 bowtraps were seized as well as four shotguns and ammunition. The problem seems to be more widespread than we initially thought. A late summer action in Brescia will be included in our annual program again next year.
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| Pied flycatcher being released from trap (photo:CABS) |
Lebanon, Cyprus, Malta: Actions have started
Although our first small actions are now complete, our large protection camps have now begun. In Cyprus, the CABS teams were able to collect more than 160 limesticks and two nets. Two poachers were convicted . In Lebanon and Malta, our focus is on the protection of migratory birds of prey and storks. We will post regular updates on social media and on this website:
http://www.komitee.de/en/actions-and-projects/bird-protection-camps/camp-diary-autumn-2018
It will definitely be a busy autumn!
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