THE POLICE should crack down on the illegal practice of offering caged birds as prizes in street side games of chance known as ‘kazantis’, according to a recent announcement by the Green Party.
A ‘kazanti’ is a booth, often found at fairs or near public parks, at which one can wage money on a pinball type of game. Those who beat the unfavourable odds and land a small metal ball in the numbered hole that they picked get to choose from a variety of prizes hung on the booth’s wall, which include stuffed animals, packs of cards, t-shirts, and sometimes even caged birds.
Head of the Green Party George Perdikis told the Cyprus Mail yesterday that after doing some research he had discovered that it was a violation of EU law to offer birds or any other animals as prizes.
Perdikis said that the kazanti owners were not breaking any law because they had caged birds in their possession but because they offered them out as prizes. “It’s a matter of treating animals decently – an animal welfare issue. Say I am a bird. Okay, you have me in a cage. But don’t make me into a game prize.”
The Green Party issued an announcement on Tuesday indicating that outraged citizens had repeatedly contacted them to report that live animals were being handed out as prizes. The memo ends with a request that the government “assume its responsibilities to stop this illegal practice”.
Perdikis said that animal rights workers had told him that offering birds or other animals as prizes was illegal under EU legislation, something that the police do not deny.
“The police agree that it is illegal”, Perdikis said. “But they close their eyes. See nothing, hear nothing. They give the excuse that the people are poor, that they are trying to make their bread, and that it’s not a big crime to do that.”
Martin Hellicar, an employee at the NGO BirdLife Cyprus specialising in EU-related issues, said that sometimes the caged birds found at fairs were wild birds trapped illegally.
“That’s completely illegal, because the method they use is banned under Cyprus law and under the European Bird Directive as well”, Hellicar said, adding that there is a great deal of illegal bird trapping in Cyprus, though primarily for the restaurant trade.
Some of the birds that might be trapped to give away as prizes in fairs might be goldfinches, green finches, linnets, and Calandra larks, while black caps and song thrushes are among those trapped for restaurant platters.
Hellicar said that one of the ways they catch the birds is by coating sticks with a gluey substance made from the Syrian plum tree. “They place the sticks in bushes and trees and the birds land on them and get stuck. It’s completely indiscriminate, so they’re catching all sorts of birds, including protected species.”
Another way they catch birds is by erecting nets among trees and bushes. Both the glue-stick method and the net method are illegal.
“The government has made huge inroads in clamping down on all this,” Hellicar said, “largely because we joined the EU, but also because BirdLife Cyprus has been monitoring the issue since 2002 so there’s been pressure on the government to do things about it.”
A spokesman for the police told the Cyprus Mail that to run a kazanti one must be over 21 years of age and must purchase a yearly licence for £120. The value of any one item cannot exceed £15 and players cannot spend more than one pound each time they shoot the ball. Children under 16 are not allowed to play unless accompanied by adults.
The spokesman could not find any regulations regarding caged live birds or animals but he said there might be other applicable laws.
