Welcome to the Committee Against Bird Slaughter (CABS)

Success at the European Court of Justice - judgement against Italy in respect of bird hunting (25.07.2010)

On 19 July 2010 the European Court of Justice reached a milestone verdict in respect of migrant bird protection in Italy. The permits issued annually by several Italian regions to hunt strictly protected species such as Hawfinch, Chaffinch, Brambling and Tree and Meadow Pipits is in clear contravention of the EU bird protection guidelines.

For many years CABS has appealed to the Italian courts against these breaches of EU legislation, and our complaint to the European Commission led to the process in Luxembourg.

The consequences of this verdict for bird protection in Italy can be read here »»

Record breeding numbers in the CABS Black Tern colony (22.06.10)

More Black Terns than ever before are breeding this year in the CABS Black Tern colonies in the federal states of Brandenburg and Saxony-Anhalt - a signal success for this endangered species.

Up until the present some 63 pairs have begun breeding on our artificial nest platforms on the Old Elbe oxbow lake near Jerichow (Saxony-Anhalt), in a bay of the Havel near Pritzerbe and on the Pritzerber See(both Brandenburg). This represents a 50 % increase over 2009.

You can read more on this successful CABS conservation project here »»

Montagu‘s Harrier conservation in the Rhineland - the 2010 breeding season has begun (06.05.10)

Montagu’s Harrier is one of the most uncommon birds of prey in Central Europe. They are particularly endangered during the nesting season as they breed in fields of cereal crops. In warm and sunny years the harvest is so early that that the whole brood is in danger of being destroyed by the combine harvester.

Members of CABS have been out and about with local ornithologists in the southern Rhineland since the beginning of May to locate the nest sites of Marsh and Montagu’s Harrier and protect them with the help of the farmers. The species protection project is sponsored by the HIT Environment and Nature Foundation

You can read more on the CABS Harrier project here

CABS Cyprus camp comes to an end - 1,977 limesticks dismantled, 2 poachers apprehended (04.05.10)

The 2010 CABS spring bird protection camp on Cyprus took place from 24 April until May .
During their 8 day operation the 14 conservationists from Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom, in cooperation with the local authorities, located and removed 1,977 limesticks, 9 mist nets and 12 electronic bird callers. Our information led to the arrest of 2 poachers.

Until our. final report is ready you can read our online diary and press report about our turbulent operations.

Our online diary with up to date progress reports is here »»

Malta: spring operations come to an end – 1,300 cases of poaching recorded (01.05.10)

Our spring operation on Malta took place from 16 April to 1 May. Together with our Maltese partners a total of 1,300 illegal acts were recorded including shots fired during the hunting curfew, the use of clap and mist nets as well as the trapping or shooting of protected bird species.

The operation was overshadowed by several serious incidents in which CABS members were injured and their rented vehicles damaged.

A final report will be published here soon. Until then you can find links to numerous press articles on our German pages here »»

Our new YouTube video shows several illegal hunting and bird trapping incidents this spring - take a look here »»

Malta and Cyprus: CABS members assaulted - 4 injured, 2 vehicles damaged - 10,000 Euro reward for information leading to the arrest of CABS assailants (01.05.10)

There have been disturbing and dramatic developments at the CABS bird protection camps on both Cyprus and Malta. On Cyprus, on 30th April, four CABS members were attacked by a gang of poachers and two of the CABS members received injuries needing hospital treatment. On Malta masked men attacked two CABS members, smashed their hire car windscreen and punched the two activists. On 29th April another CABS patrol vehicle was badly damaged.

The Cyprus incident is described in detail in our press release
More on the attack on Malta can be found here

More on the 10.000 € reward for information leading to the arrest of CABS assailants can be read here »»

Help us to help the birds (01.12.2009)

The Committee Against Bird Slaughter (CABS) is the only organisation in Europe specialising in field operations to combat bird poaching and trapping throughout the European Union. In the course of our annual bird protection camps we locate and remove many more than 20,000 bird traps and nets. We also fight in the courts against the illegal authorisation of hunting in contravention of EU legislation and, in campaigns and by lobbying, strive for better protection of migrant birds.

YOU can help us too - become a sponsor member of CABS today!

More information and membership application form here »»

Too many membership commitments? Even a one-off sum is of great importance and helps to fund our operations, campaigns or treatment of injured birds. Support our vital operations by a donation by bank transfer or credit card.

Video clips of CABS operations on YouTube

Since summer 2008 CABS has published video clips from its operations on Malta and in Italy on the online portal YouTube.

A new film of our work on Cyprus is here »»
Video clips of our Malta bird protection camps are here »»
A film on our operations in Italy is here »»
Two video clips on bird trapping in France are here »»