THE European Union is tightening the noose on Cyprus over the illegal trapping of millions of endangered migratory birds by mist netting and lime sticking.
A Gaming Fund official yesterday confirmed that two EU watchdogs would be arriving on the island shortly to monitor efforts by the British Bases Police and the Game Fund to stamp out the cruel practice of setting lime sticks. The visits comes after international organisations such as Birdlife and the RSPCB launched scathing attacks on the Cyprus government for not combating mist netting and lime sticking, which results in an estimated 12 million birds being destroyed each year.
The banned bird trapping is most widespread in southeastern areas of Paralimni, Protaras and Ayia Napa,
Cyprus Ornithological Society spokesman Melis Charalambides told the Cyprus Mail yesterday that the two observers would spend two months with Game Fund officers in order to produce a report, which could see the EU filing a report against Cyprus should their conclusions be negative.
Mike Everet of the CSPCB told the Cyprus Mail yesterday that the organisation was appalled by the government’s stance regarding bird trapping.
“There has been quite a lot of publicity in the UK about it and our view is that it’s absolutely dreadful. It’s an absolute scandal and it is to the great shame of Cyprus that this is being allowed to happen,” he said.
Everet said the CSPCA had filed a complaint to the government but had not yet received a reply.
“They’ve acknowledged receipt of the complaint but there wasn’t any reply as to what action they would take,” Everet said.
Once a relatively small-scale traditional practice, bird trapping has now become a high-tech, multi-million-pound undercover industry fuelled by the high price the birds fetch as ambelopoulia delicacies in traditional restaurants on the island.
During the main autumn migration season, trappers home in on the southeastern corner of the island, where migrant birds congregate. At Cape Greco, Paralimni and Cape Pyla – within the Dhekelia British base – lime sticks and nets are set on a massive scale, making every bush a bird death trap in some areas.
Though the practice has been banned since 1974, trappers act with impunity, apparently confident they will never be prosecuted.
A joint campaign between the SBA and the Game Fund entitled ‘Partnership against Poaching’ last year resulted in the seizure of over £51,000 of mist nets and lime sticks, the arrest of 34 poachers.
The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.
