UP TO FOUR million German television viewers have been shown disturbing footage of Cypriot bird trappers assaulting a group of conservationists on a top-rated current affairs programme.
Germany’s largest private free-to-air station RTL broadcast a report titled: “Dirty business – how millions of birds end up as table delicacies”, which featured graphic video of a poacher brandishing a plank of wood whilst attempting to bundle a conservationist into the back of a truck near Paralimni.
Footage of several terrified ornithologists being threatened by an irate poacher was also featured in the film, which was shown on Thursday evening and comes exactly a year after a brutal attack by poachers left several conservationists injured in hospital.
The footage was shot by a television crew from Stern TV during a Committee Against Bird Slaughter (CABS) spring bird protection camp. The camp included ornithologists, conservationists and environmentalists from Cyprus, Greece, Italy and Germany.
Speaking to the Cyprus Mail, CABS spokesman David Colin said that the broadcast had made a considerable impact on viewers: “People were appalled when they saw the programme; I’ve had emails from people who just can’t believe that this sort of thing can go on in a state of the European Union.”
The broadcast coincided with a new CABS report which has called for an urgent crackdown on poaching as soaring numbers of birds are being killed.
“The failure of the authorities to effectively combat bird trapping is evident in the behaviour of the poachers,” the report stated.
“Many trappers in Cyprus work professionally and have built up mafia-like structures. As they do not expect to face any meaningful repressive measures and at the same time run a brisk and profitable trade in the trapped birds, their readiness to resort to violence is high.”
It is estimated that up to three million birds are slaughtered annually, with CABS claiming 3,353 illegal lime sticks were discovered this year, in comparison to 1,197 in 2010.
It is not the first time Cypriot poachers have generated highly-negative publicity abroad by attacking CABS activists.
Two years ago the celebrated American novelist and passionate bird-lover, Jonathan Franzen, recounted in graphic, first-hand detail a similar tale of violence against members of the German-based group in a lengthy article in the New Yorker magazine.
Cyprus now harbours one of the most intensive songbird-killing operations in the European Union, with restaurant owners, poachers, dealers and even exporters of the illegal delicacy taking slices of the lucrative business, which is estimated to be worth over five million euros annually.
Bird trapping has been illegal in Cyprus since the 1970s, but the situation has recently become so dire that in Paralimni alone poachers set out between 9,000 to 10,000 lime sticks in spring.
In a report published in January, BirdLife Cyprus found a 75-per cent increase in mist net use and an 89-per cent increase in lime stick setting compared to 2009 levels.
