CABS Annual Report 2011

CABS Bird Guards on Malta“Among the numerous organisations committed to bird conservation and protection the Committee Against Bird Slaughter has the most hard-hitting policy”. That is in any event the opinion of the New York best-selling author and birdwatcher Jonathan Franzen expressed in an interview with the birding magazine Vögel (Birds) in August 2011. This year’s annual report confirms that direct action against illegal killing of migrant birds is beyond doubt the focal point of our work. This year a total of more than 120 unpaid volunteers from 11 European countries participated in the CABS bird protection camps in the Mediterranean region. The results speak for themselves. During our operations on Malta and Cyprus, in France, Italy and Spain, more than 14,500 bird traps, nets or decoy devices were located and seized and criminal proceedings have been initiated against over 50 trappers and poachers. Of particular cause for celebration is the result of Operation Ortolan in the South of France, in which a CABS team located, deactivated and comprehensively recorded illegal trapping sites for this Bunting species, which is threatened with extinction in Germany and other European states. The material collated will help to encourage the responsible authorities in Paris and Brussels to finally crack down on this outdated and harmful practice. Our teams were also successful in Germany, where they once again shed light on dozens of cases of illegal persecution of birds of prey and helped to bring the offenders to justice.

January

CABS volunteer (left) and police officers investigate a cage trap in Westphalia

• In the course of monitoring of hunting reserves in the Rural District of Heinsberg CABS members discovered a total of 12 dead birds of prey in two locations. The birds showed signs of having been poisoned. This suspicion was confirmed by an analysis carried out by the Münster State Veterinary Investigations Office that found that the birds the cause of death was an insecticide banned in Germany. The police have initiated criminal proceedings against a person or persons unknown.

• On Malta a member of the board of the FKNK hunting association was found guilty of attempted assault and sentenced to a fine. The appeal court confirmed that the hunting functionary had been rightly found guilty of verbally abusing a CABS spokesperson and subsequently striking him in the face at a press conference in September 2010. The press conference was held to publicise the large-scale shooting and concealment of protected bird species in a game reserve managed by the FKNK.

• During a search organised by CABS in Emsland and parts of Münsterland in Lower Saxony three large trapping sites for birds of prey were discovered and closed down by the authorities. The police initiated criminal proceedings in respect of offences against the Federal Nature Protection Law in a number of cases.

February

Popular German actor Hannes Jaenicke supports our efforts to combat bird slaughter

• A falconer, who in 2010 was caught red-handed setting out illegal traps for birds of prey by a CABS team, was sentenced by the Lippstadt administrative court to a fine of 2,000 Euros to be paid to a wildlife conservation foundation. The man had previously apologised volubly for setting out the traps and catching a Common Buzzard.

• The popular German film and TV performer and scriptwriter Hannes Jaenicke lends his support to our campaign against hunting of migratory birds. The 50 year old actor starred in a film clip, shot on the island of Majorca, censuring bird killing in the Mediterranean region. The film, the production costs of which were met in full by the Foundation Pro-Biodiversity, was subsequently shown in cinemas and on the German-language TV stations RTL, PRO 7 and NTV.

• On the basis of information received from the general public CABS members searched several suspect hunting reserves in the Rural District of Düren. The search resulted in the finds of 8 freshly-killed birds of prey around the town of Linnich. The corpses were seized by the police and sent to a laboratory for testing. Te result is unambiguous - the birds were deliberately poisoned with a pesticide.

March

A forest police helicopter was used during a CABS operation on the island of Ponza

• Three bird trappers arrested and almost 100 traps confiscated. That is the result of the bird protection camp organised by CABS in March on the small Italian Mediterranean island of Ponza. CABS members posing as tourists had located several trapping sites in the north of the island and informed the forest police. A helicopter was tasked to enable the officers to surprise and catch the three poachers in the rough terrain.

• Poison attacks in Baden-Württemberg. In the course of only a few weeks more than 30 deliberately poisoned birds of prey were found near Rheinstetten and Iffezheim. CABS members help in the search for poisoned bait and the recovery of the corpses. Together with NABU Baden-Württemberg and the Peregrine Falcon Working Group the Committee demands that the state government uses all means in its power to bring those responsible to justice.

• Men at work in Modena. The CSA wildlife rehabilitation centre is extended with financial support from CABS. New aviaries for confiscated birds are being constructed on a neighbouring plot made available by the city of Modena. In addition the size of the animal run for ungulates has been almost doubled and the pond for water birds has been enlarged.

April

Monitoring of migration over Malta

• On the initiative of CABS a meeting of the larger bird conservation organisations is organised in Rome on the theme “Relaxation of hunting restriction in the Italian regions”. At the meeting a common campaign against the shooting of finches and pipits in Lombardy and Veneto was agreed on, as well as an environmental complaint against the trapping of wild birds to be used as live decoys by hunters in the so-called ‘roccoli’ in North Italy.

• During the CABS spring bird protection camp on Malta 12 volunteers from Germany, the United Kingdom and Italy monitored the rest areas and night roosts of endangered migrant birds. Once again the shooting down of numerous protected species was recorded and several illegal trapping sites with clap nets reported to the police. A joint CABS/BirdLife Malta report listed the illegal shooting down, or recovery with obvious shotgun injuries, of 135 protected birds.

• Operations on Cyprus. In the course of an operation on Cyprus lasting almost two weeks CABS volunteers monitored illegal bird trapping hotspots on the Mediterranean island. At 85 different locations some 3,353 limesticks, 15 mist nets, 12 electronic decoy devices and 6 aviaries containing protected song bird species were found and reported to the authorities. A total of 103 trapped birds were released unscathed including various warbler species, Masked Shrike, Cuckoo and Golden Oriole.

• Social housing for Black Terns. CABS members set out a total of 98 nesting floats in Brandenburg and Saxony-Anhalt for the endangered Black Tern. The colonies are located on the Old Elbe between Jerichow and Fischbeck, Pritzerber See and the Kützkower Havelbucht.

May

Goshawks may no longer be taken from nests by falconers in North-Rhine Westphalia

• In reaction to a complaint by CABS, Johannes Remmel, Minister for the Environment for North-Rhine Westphalia (NRW), bans the removal of young Goshawks from nests by falconers. Until now falconers in NRW and other German states were permitted under licence to remove young Goshawks to train them for hunting. In the committee’s view this practice contravenes EU legislation.

• Success in our campaign to protect birds from death by electrocution. Since April more than 10,000 bird lovers have bombarded the German Environmental Conference with protest letters. The conference president, Saxony-Anhalt’s Environment Minister Hermann Aeikens, has now approached the responsible electricity companies and ordered them to meet their obligations to neutralise all affected power lines by the end of 2011.

• The Federal Government plans to abrogate important penalty regulation in German laws on species protection. Under the direction of the Minister for Justice, Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger (FDP), a draft proposal for reducing penalties for offences in connection with species protection. CABS organises a federal-wide protest against this threatened trivialisation of wildlife crime offences.

• During the CABS-funded bird protection camp on the Amalfi coastline and on the islands in the Gulf of Naples (including Ischia) 20 WWF Italy game wardens monitor illegal bird hunting and trapping. A total of 120 traps and 20 electronic decoy devices are seized and five hunters caught illegally hunting in spring.

June

Setting out of nest floats on the River Havel for the Black Tern

• CABS on prime time TV. On 8 June, in the popular magazine programme Stern TV (RTL), viewers in Germany, Austria, Luxembourg and Switzerland were shown a report on the hazardous work of the Committee on Cyprus. In addition to the bird trapping sequences the film shows a CABS team being assaulted and physically molested by poachers. The programme caused a wave of protest in Germany and beyond. The next day all major Cyprus newspapers reported on our operations, and the Mafia-like attack on our volunteers.

• Our floating nest islands for the endangered Black Tern in the Havel Depression achieve a high level of popularity. A total of 41 pairs decide to breed on the artificial nest sites, restored and set out annually by our volunteers. Breeding success is only mediocre - 16 young birds fledge - due mainly to adverse climatic conditions.

• CABS promotes conservation of the critically endangered Corn Bunting and other bird species of the open countryside in southern Rhineland. A conservation concept is developed together with ornithologists and representatives of the responsible authorities, including the introduction of measures to prevent major road works and wind farms in close proximity to Corn Bunting breeding sites.

July

Marsh Harrier chick in a CABS nest site protection zone

• Protest action against bird slaughter. CABS General Secretary Alexander Heyd and Roland Tischbier from the Foundation Pro Biodiversity deliver six large parcels to the Embassy of the Republic of Cyprus in Berlin. The contents - 34,432 protest postcards against illegal bird trapping on the Mediterranean island. An Embassy representative, Head of the Consular Section Ms Eleni Papanicolaou, accepts the signatures and promises to help ensure more effective monitoring by the Cypriot law enforcement agencies.

• Members of the CABS Harrier Protection Working Group record a total of seven broods of the endangered Marsh Harrier in the in the Zülpicher Börde between Lower Rhine and Eifel. Before harvesting a protection zone some 500 m² is erected around a nest in a field of cereal crops. This year at least 11 young Harriers fledge from the nests cared for by the Committee.

• Sensational verdict on Malta. A court in Valletta sentences a bird poacher to two years imprisonment, a 9,000 Euro fine and loss of his hunting licence for life. A second hunter receives a sentence of one year jail and a fine of 5,000 Euros. He also receives a lifelong hunting ban. Both men had shot at a flock of White Storks on passage over Malta in May 2011 and were caught by the police.

• High-level Cyprus conference. A CABS representative participates in an international conference in Larnaca on Illegal Killing of Birds in Europe organised by the Council of Europe/Bern Convention. All participants, including hunting associations, agree that a zero tolerance policy against poaching is the only solution to the problem. In the Larnaca Declaration, initiated by CABS and a pressure group of like-minded organisations, the conference calls on European governments to implement a comprehensive package of measures to tackle the illegal practice of bird killing in Europe at its roots.

August

CABS volunteers dismantle illegal traps for Ortolan Bunting in France

• Focus on bird trapping in Germany. During filming for a documentary with a team from the German ZDF programme ‘Zoom’ CABS members catch a man red-handed setting traps. The man, who had set out a huge stone crush trap on the periphery of a nature reserve near Euskirchen near Bonn, to risked his neck with careless talk in front of the camera. He will be prosecuted for poaching.

• Operation Ortolan. A CABS team conducts an operation in south-west France against the illegal trapping of Ortolan Buntings and other song birds. The trapping of this species, which is endangered throughout Europe, is recorded on film for the first time by an independent film crew accompanying the CABS team. In the course of the operation 139 illegal traps are destroyed and 23 trapped Ortolan Buntings freed.

• During monitoring of an extensively used hunting preserve in woods near Heek in North-Rhine Westphalia CABS experts collect evidence of numerous serious contraventions against nature protection and hunting legislation. The offences include the trapping of several Goshawks in illegal traps and the illegal setting out of Pheasants reared in captivity before the start of the hunting season. The public prosecutor in Münster initiates proceedings against the responsible estate manager.

• Success on Malta. The trapping of Golden Plover, Quail, Thrushes and Turtle Doves with large clap nets is banned throughout the Maltese islands. CABS and its partner organisation BirdLife Malta have called for such a ban for several years and continually provided evidence of abuse of the practice and the trapping of protected bird species.

September

Last minute rescue - Common Redstart on a limestick on Cyprus

• The ninth large scale bird protection camp on Malta takes place from 9 to 26 September. The aim is to monitor the new ban on trapping and to prevent the shooting of migrant birds of prey and Storks. Thanks to the efforts of the 24 camp participants numerous contraventions of poaching and trapping are once again recorded; but the shooting down of many migrant birds is averted.

• A new, sad record is set on Cyprus. The participants in the autumn bird protection camp locate and destroy more than 4,000 limesticks - many more than ever before during operations on the Mediterranean island. In addition 21 mist nets and 24 electronic decoy devices are dismantled by the teams and almost 100 trapped birds set free. Acting on our information the police also arrest one poacher.

• Success for our campaign against the threatened trivialisation of species protection legislation. In a letter to the Committee the Federal Justice Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger states that the government will no longer proceed with the proposed amendments that would have seriously minimised the current scale of penalties. This had been sharply criticised by CABS in its German-wide campaign.

• CABS on the silver screen. The American film production company Pepper & Bones works together with CABS on a cinema film about illegal killing and trapping of birds in Europe. Over a period of six weeks a film crew recorded CABS operations In France and Italy and on Cyprus. The commentary will be read by the US best-selling author Jonathan Franzen. The film will be entered in competition at the Toronto film festival in 2012.

October

CABS volunteers filmed a shooting orgy at an alpine pass in Italy that launched a wave of protest

• More than 70 British, German and Italian volunteers take part in this year’s traditional autumn bird protection camp in Brescia in Northern Italy. During the 4 week camp a total of 1,718 traps and nets were dismantled and 36 poachers were arrested by the police. Compared with previous camps the extent of poaching has declined markedly.

• In the course of October the Italian forest police delivered more than 270 trapped song birds to the wildlife rehabilitation centre in Modena that is financed by CABS. The birds, seized from hunters and trappers, will be released into the wild after several weeks of care in the centre.

• For the first time a CABS team of experts was sent to the Spanish province of Valencia to support our partner organisations GECEN, AE-Agró and GER-EA in combating the widespread illegal trapping of birds with limesticks. A great deal of evidence of the trapping of protected species on a vast scale was recorded. In a single incident the police, alerted by our team, seized more than 140 limesticks. Three trappers were apprehended on the basis of our information.

• A huge success for CABS and its partner organisation LAC in Italy. As a result of a complaint by CABD the Lombardy administrative court fins the province of Brescia in contravention of Italian and EU legislation by operating more than 20 bird trapping facilities. The trapping sites, operated officially by the province, must be closed down by 28 October 2011. Thrushes and finches were trapped at the sites in order to provide Brescia hunters with live decoys.

November

Goose hunters on the River Elbe must reckon with checks by CABS teams

• Comprehensive tree-felling and clearing work is carried out in our Raisdorf frog ponds nature reserve. The work includes clearing the shore areas to reduce the level of nutrients in the water. The pond intake areas will also be cleared and nest boxes in the reserve cleaned and repaired.

• Monitoring of goose hunting in Germany. A strong team of CABS members monitored goose hunting on the River Elbe in the state of Saxony-Anhalt from 17 to 20 November. A hunting party was caught shooting illegally at arctic geese at a roost water in the EU Elbaue bei Jerichow nature reserve. There was comprehensive coverage of the incident in the newspapers and the regional TV programme.

• In the course of renewed monitoring of trapping sites in Brescia by a stay-behind team a total of 27 freshly set out traps and 11 mist nets were located. Together with the forest and provincial police all the traps were dismantled and a further poacher was caught red-handed.

• Court proceedings begin. Two men appear before the Münster district court charged will illegal commercial trade in wader species. A police check discovered more than 200 strictly protected Redshanks, plovers and other wader species, all of which were seized. The police action was triggered by a complaint by CABS that provided the authorities with photos of a smuggling operation by the two accused.

December

Member of the Modena wildlife rehabilitation centre with an injured Little Egret

• Large scale protest: At the beginning of December CABS released a video showing a shooting orgy by Italian hunters on the Colle San Zeno alpine pass. At the same time an online protest campaign was initiated against the annual killing of finches and pipits in Northern Italy. Within 14 days more than 30,000 people had watched the video and over 5,000 nature-lovers had sent a protest email to the new Italian Minister for the Environment Signore Clini urging him to put a stop to this annual massacre.

• In the last three months of the year Committee staff members published several long articles on our work in respected specialist periodicals. In addition to articles in Der Falke and Charadrius magazines, the latter the house publication of the North-Rhine Westphalia Ornithologists’ Association, a study of ‘The Threat to the Red Kite from Poisoned Bait’ in Germany takes up several pages of the specialist ornithological periodical ‘Reports on Bird Protection’.

• Operations in Sardinia. Together with our Italian partner organisation LAC, CABS members operate on Sardinia to locate and destroy illegal bird traps. In the course of the two operations, each lasting two weeks, more than 5,000 horsehair snares are dismantled.

• In the wildlife rehabilitation centres in Modena (Italy) and Kirchwald (Rhineland-Palatinate), both financially supported by the Committee, more than 2,000 wild birds - injured or seized by the authorities - were cared for this year. In addition more than 700 Roe and Red Deer and Wild Boar, some 400 Hedgehogs and numerous tortoises, dormice and other wild animals were admitted to the centres. Many of the patients were released in a healthy state into the wild after intensive treatment and care.

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Acknowledgements

As ever we owe a great deal of gratitude to a large number of individuals and organisations for their help and support in 2011. We wish therefore to express our sincere thanks to the following organisations and individuals: The Foundation Pro-Biodiversity (Bielefeld), the Karl Kaus Foundation for Wildlife and Nature (Bremen), the Stadler Nature Foundation (Wehrheim), the HIT Nature Conservation Foundation (Zülpich), the Malta Police environmental protection unit (ALE), the anti-poaching unit of the Italian Corpo Forestale dello Stato (NOA), the Cyprus Police Anti-Poaching Unit, the SBA Police Cyprus, the Cyprus Game Fund, the environmental crime office of the North-Rhine Westphalia Ministry for the Environment (MUNLV), the Ligue pour la protection des Oiseaux (LPO, Paris), Friends of the Earth Cyprus (FoE), the Cyprus Conservation Federation -Terra Cypria, the Lega Italiana Protezione Ucelli (LIPU groups Naples and Ischia), the game wardens of WWF Italy, the Hunting Abolition League (LAC) in Milan, the CSA Wildlife Centre in Modena, International Animal Rescue (IAR Malta), BirdLife Malta, East to West Communications (San Martin, Malta), the Nature Protection Association NABU in North-Rhine Westphalia, Baden-Württemberg and Thuringia, The Royal Belgian Bird Protection Organisation (LRBPO, Brussels), the Spanish nature conservation organisations GECEN, AE-Agró and GER-EA (all based in Valencia), the Life and Nature Convention (CVN, Paris), De Faunabescherming (The Netherlands), the Union for the Conservation of Raptors (UCR, Washington), the German Animal Protection Association, the North-Rhine Westphalia Ornithological Society (NWO), the Institute for Avian Research -Helgoland Bird Observatory (Wilhelmshaven), the German Nature Protection Ring (DNR), the German Bird Conservation Council (DRV), the Saxon Ornithological Society (VSO), the Owl Preservation Society (EGE), Kirchwald, Rösrath and Paasmühle wild bird rehabilitation centres, the Düren Euskirchen and Bonn Biological Stations, the Frogland Project (Raisdorf), the Society for the Coordination of Nature in Plön District (knik), the ornithological magazines Vögel and Der Falke, the Raisdorf Community, the North-Rhine Westphalia Environment Ministry Species Protection College in Metelen, Prof. Carlo Consiglio, Prof. Bernd-Ulrich Meyburg, Jonathan Franzen, and of course all our members, sponsors and volunteers who are too numerous to name individually here.

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