- Approximately a million birds be criminally killed in just 2 months on a BMB last year.
- The RSPB’s international director, called on the Ministry of Defence(MOD) to do extra to end local poachers, who reportedly took 15,000 birds every day during September and October from SBA.
- The statement highlights the prohibited trapping of songbirds on the British military base has escalated and we are point of view the MOD and the Base Area authorities to resolve it before this autumn’s relocation.
- While the MOD extra the result and questioned the way of the evaluation.
- We do not agree to the report’s untested claims about loss of bird life in this time, which was based upon data collected from a extremely small time.
- We are dedicated to tackling poaching which is why we under arrest nearly 50 poachers and seized 450 nets and 286 piece of poaching tools in the last relocation time. When we catch poachers we can fine them 17,000 Euro, or send them to prison for up to three years. We continue to work with local organizations to talk about how we can work as well as potential.
- RSPB overseas territory team leader said the MOD had signed off on the 12 year old survey’s methodology and that, if anything, the numbers were traditional.
- It is unfortunate to be surprised something which they already received. We are sure that the method is as robust as we can make it, dC1C8CFoes permit valid year on year comparisons, and that our real priority is to direct force towards solve the problem.
- The RSPB believe that planned crime groups are now involved in the sale of the birds’ meat as a black market delicacy. Their monitors have noted the large level planting of acacia scrub that both attracts birds and creates corridors for poachers’ nets to hang.
- Every autumn, huge number of songbirds use Cyprus as a place to rest and feed as they travel south. For centuries Cypriots have hunted the birds each September and October to make a local dish called Ambelopoulia.
- Usually trapping was done using twigs enclosed in sticky lime that birds would land on and be not capable to get away. But the innovation of large-scale, unsystematic netting technique that capture thousands of birds, including threatened species, lead to the outlawing of both the dish and the hunting in 1974.
- Even though the ban, those in the know can still find Ambelopoulia in the local tavernas and illegal require is driving number of birds killed to unparalleled levels. The RSPB said the amount of birds captured in Dhekelia has tripled since their monitoring started in 2002.
- The bulk of the birds captured by the poachers are ordinary genus such as robin and blackcap and the practice of netting them has unimportant effect on their protection. The RSPB said the practice is difficult because it also captures rare group including the Cyprus wheatear and Cyprus warbler.
- The SBA is home to about 16,000 people, half of them British military personnel and half Cypriots. The RSPB has suggested the MOD is loathe to come down too hard on the poachers because it will antagonize the local community.
↧
Millions of birds were killed on British military base in Cyprus
↧