Committee Against Bird Slaughter (CABS)

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Police raids in Saxony, Brandenburg and North-Rhine-Westphalia

Bird of prey traps found and seized on properties of pigeon fanciers and ornamental bird breeders.(27.01.2012)

In the period 23 - 27 January 2012, conservationists and police located and dismantled illegal cage traps for birds of prey in Leipzig (Saxony), Luckenwalde (Brandenburg) and Dormagen (North-Rhine -Westphalia). In all three cases the traps were so-called Goshawk cage traps, set out on the roofs of aviaries or pigeon coops.

The illegal traps were seized and the police have initiated criminal proceedings.

You can find our press release on the incident here »»

Stone Crush Traps in Italy:
Police arrest the first poacher acting on information from CABS (19.01.2012)

Except for a small area in Southern France where the trapping method is still carried out with official approval the practice was thought to have died out - stone crush traps. CABS members have located a large trapping site in the Ligurian Apennines in North Italy. The results of the operation from 20 - 23 December 2011 lead to the conclusion that this brutal trapping method has survived in other areas in the mountains north of Genoa.

The first poached has now been arrested. Acting on information provided by CABS the Pavia provincial police caught a man red-handed attending his stone crush traps on 17 January 2012. A house search uncovered more than 100 plucked birds in the poacher's deep freeze! The police later destroyed all 200 traps found with sledgehammers.

You can find more information on and recent photos of the CABS and police operation here»»

Sardinia - Christmas camp comes to an end

Over 3,400 traps dismantled and four poachers caught (02.01.2011)

A dozen Italian and German CABS members together with our partner organisation LIPU were on bird protection operations on the Mediterranean island of Sardinia from 24.12.2011 till 01.01.2012. During the ‘festive season’ the volunteers collected a total of 4,930 bird traps as well as 30 wire snares for the endemic Sardinian Red Deer (a vulnerable species) and Wild Boar. The Carabinieri, acting on information provided concealed CABS video cameras, caught three poachers red-handed. Another poacher who had stoned a CABS team was identified and later arrested.

During the first Sardinian camp, held from 04 to 12 December 2011, 2,490 horsehair and 104 wire snares were found and dismantled giving a grand total of more than 6,000 traps made safe.

You can find more information on our Sardinia camps at See Sardinia and die! »»

CABS Calendar of Events 2012

Our new operation plan is ready! (28.12.2011)

Our new operational calendar of events for 2012 has been finalised after discussions with our partner organisations and the authorities in Italy and on Cyprus and Malta.

If you want to take part the motto is “First come - first served!” We have a small number of places for first-timers and, as every year, these will be hotly contested. Volunteers aged 18 and over (no upper limit if you are active, fit and keen to save birds) may apply.

For those new to CABS we recommend applying for participation in one of the autumn migration camps on Malta or in Northern Italy.

The timetable of events for 2012 can be found here »».

But before finally committing yourself and sending in the application form please first read carefully the requirements and conditions for the respective camps.

Activities 2011

Committee Against Bird Slaughter publishes its annual report (21.12.2011)

As the year comes to an end it is time for a look back a tour campaigns and operations in 2011. Altogether more than 120 volunteers from 11 European states participated in our bird protection camps in the Mediterranean region. The results speak for themselves - in the course of our operations in France, Italy and Spain, as well as on Cyprus and Malta, more than 14,500 bird traps, mist nets or decoy devices were located and seized. In addition more than 50 trappers and poachers face prosecution.

We also had humble success with our species protection projects in Germany. These ranged from bird of prey protection in the Rhineland to our Black Tern colony conservation programmes on the Rivers Elbe and Havel, as well as management of the CABS nature reserves near Kiel in Schleswig-Holstein.

You can read all about this very successful year in our Annual Report 2011 .

Sardinia: Our bird protection camp has ended successfully

More than 5,000 horsehair snares destroyed (12.12.2011)

The first of this year’s bird protection camps on Sardinia took place from 3.12.2011 to 11.12.2011. Birds are still caught with horsehair snares on the Mediterranean island, especially Redwing, Song Thrush, Blackcap and Robin that all land in the cooking pot or frying pan as traditional Christmas fare. Members of our partner organisation dismantled and destroyed some 6,634 of the very fine mini-gallows. In addition an illegal mist net and 72 wire snares for deer and wild boar were removed more than 8,000 of the snares.

This year there will also be a second camp on Sardinia - the ‘Christmas’ camp beginning on 23 December.

You can find more information on our Sardinia camps at See Sardinia and die! »»

Final report on the 25^th CABS bird protection camp in Northern Italy

37 poachers arrested - 1,747 traps and nets seized and destroyed (02.12.2011)

Our large scale bird protection camp in Northern Italy ended on 13.11.2011. Some 72 volunteers from Germany, Great Britain and Italy took part in the camp. A total of 1,065 bow traps, 588 snap traps and 54 mist nets were seized during the operation. Acting on our information the police caught 37 poachers red-handed.

The low numbers of traps found are a clear sign that poaching in North Italy is in decline and underlines the success of our efforts over almost 30 years to put a stop to bird trapping there.

You can read the comprehensive report on this year‘s successful operations here »»

Annual mass killing of finches and pipits in Italy

Call for organisational solidarity

In addition to our email protest campaign by individual bird and nature lovers, CABS and LIPU Italy appeal for bird and environmental organisations, in Europe and worldwide, to send an official written letter of protest from their association, society or club.

A draft text is available here

Thank you for your support

Bird lovers throughout Europe shocked by bird hunting excesses

CABS initiates a wave of protest against the massacre of migrant birds in Italy (23.11.2011)

Video material shot by CABS members in the Italian Alps has severely shocked bird and nature lovers all over Europe. The film shows the massacre of song birds by over 100 hunters on an alpine mountain pass vital for bird migration. Within a short space of time thousands of shots were fired, the hunters shooting without consideration for the conservationists present. Shotgun pellets and dead birds rained down on the group of CABS and LAC members observing and protesting against this brutal and aimless slaughter. The targets were thousands of Meadow Pipits, Chaffinches, Bramblings and Hawfinches that had been illegally declared huntable by the local authorities.

You can view this shocking and distressing CABS video here »»

An email to the new Italian Minister for the Environment can be sent here »»

CABS members prevent illegal hunting in EU nature reserve

Official complaint lodged against restaurant offering roast swan (21.11.2011)

Last Friday (18.11.2011) a group of hunters attempted to shoot down arctic geese flying in to their roost water in the EU nature reserve Elbaue Jerichow, north of Magdeburg in Saxony-Anhalt. Five shots had already been fired before CABS members had located them in the rough terrain and stopped the hunt. Hunting in the vicinity of roost waters is explicitly banned in Saxony-Anhalt. Two of the men were ‘hunting tourists’ from Thuringia.

Another indication that commercial interests are often connected to waterfowl hunting was provided by the case of a restaurant in nearby Tangermünde that, despite a strict ban on marketing, offers freshly-killed roast Swan from the region as a delicacy. A complaint against contravention of various laws and regulations has been laid against both the hunters and the restaurant.

You can read our press release on the incidents here »»

The extended bird protection operations in Northern Italy come to an end

Operations begin on Sardinia on 3 December (13.11.2011)

Many poachers in Brescia Province wait for a few days after forest police operations cease at the end of October before setting out their traps and nets. Sat the end of our Brescia camp CABS volunteers had located several freshly-prepared sites with traps or nets. These are probably now all active.

We therefore decided to send a team back to Brescia after a break of a few days. The four volunteers ensured that the provincial police were able to arrest a poacher who had set out four mist nets!

On 13 November operations were brought to an end. Game rangers from our partner organisations LAC and WWF will continue to mount patrols in the Brescia area at weekends.

You can read more on this operation in our online diary here »»

Hungary: Customs officers stop truck with 10,000 dead song birds (08.11.2011)

At the weekend Hungarian customs officials stopped a truck loaded with some 10,000 freshly-shot song birds on the border with Romania. According to the Bonn-based Committee Against Bird Slaughter the consignment consisted mainly of Skylarks, an endangered species in Germany and other European countries, but much favoured as a delicacy by Italian gourmets.

Vigilant customs officials noticed that some cartons in the Romanian refrigerated truck were different to the remainder containing meat and sausage products. “We immediately decided to do a thorough check of the truck” reported Inspector Linda Jásza of the Nagylak police. The check revealed a gruesome find: countless crates of dead song birds, packed in plastic bags, all neatly labelled. The cartons contained a total of more than 9,000 Skylarks, as well as hundreds of Bluethroats, Goldfinches, Fieldfares, Mistle Thrushes, Reed Buntings and Pied Wagtails.

You can read more on this spectacular find here »»

Malta bird protection camp autumn 2011

CABS publishes its final report (08.11.2011)

This year’s CABS autumn bird protection camp on Malta took place from 9 - 25 September. A total of 24 volunteers from Bulgaria, the Czech Republic,Germany, Great Britain, Italy and Malta participated in the 2011. The primary aim was to prevent the illegal shooting of birds of prey by deployment of our volunteers, in a highly visible manner, at important night roosts and on the known flight corridors. Known trapping sites were also monitored.

A total of 221 contraventions of Maltese Hunting Law and bird protection regulations were witnessed and recorded by our monitoring teams during 14 days of operations. These contraventions included 48 cases of the shooting at or killing of protected species by at least 61 different individuals, as well as 41 protected birds observed with obvious shotgun injuries or found dead.

Detailed information on conduct and results of the camp can in our Final Report »»

Our Youtube-Video with clips from this autumn’s camp can be viewed here »»

Another success at court in Northern Italy

The Bergamo trapping sites must be closed down as well (08.11.11)

Another huge success for CABS and its partner organisation LAC in Italy. After the administrative court had ordered the closure of the ‘official’ trapping sites in Brescia Province on 28 October, it is now the turn of the 21 sites in Bergamo. The Lombardy administrative court had ruled that the huge trapping installations (so-called Roccoli) in Bergamo are illegal - and ordered their immediate closure. Permits had been issued to trap thrushes and finches as decoy birds for hunting. The court in Milan confirmed that the opening of the Roccoli in September 2011 contravened the EU bird protection guidelines and Italian Hunting Law. The court case was financed by CABS.

You can read more on our legal activity in the Italian courts here »»

Guido De Filippo has died

We share a deep sense of loss for a long-standing companion in Italy (04.11.2011)

Guido De Filippo died on the 3^rd November 2011 in Milan. Guido was a titan of our oldest partner organisation in Italy the Lega Abolizione Caccia (LAC), its General Secretary and responsible for a number of important tasks. These included press and public relations work, research into hunting and poaching legislation and practices as well as our court appeals against relaxation of laws governing the length of hunting season and huntable species in Northern Italy. Since the beginning of the 1980s he has been an important point of contact for, and a good personal friend of the Committee Against Bird Slaughter.

He suffered a heart attack on 23 October following a demonstration against hunting of finches in the Brescia Mountains, and fell into a coma from which he never awoke. He died far too young at the age of 51.

You can view a recent interview with Guido from this October on Youtube (in Italian) here »»

Bird trapping in Northern Spain

CABS and its partners combat trapping with limesticks (29.10.2011)

Although the European Court of Justice has declared the practice illegal, and the responsible authorities have issued no licences since 2009, there are still some 1,500 huge and active trapping sites (Paranys) in North-east Spain. As a rule the police refuse to take firm action against the extensive trapping of birds with limesticks and as a result the practice is widely tolerated. CABS, with a small international team from Italy, Great Britain and Malta, together with its local partners GECEN, AE-Agró and GER-EA, is currently on operations in the Valencia region. The aim is to develop a strategy against the illegal practice and record the active trapping sites.

You can read more on the problem of thes limestick trapping sites here »»

Brescia bird protection camp comes to a successful end

36 poachers caught - 1,620 traps and 82 nets seized (31.10.2011)

This year’s autumn CABS bird protection camp in Brescia, North Italy, has come to an end. More than 70 volunteers from Germany, Great Britain and Italy were involved in the month-long search for traps and nets and supported the police in their battle against bird poaching. Information collected by our teams led to the confiscation and destruction of 1,620 traps, 82 nets and 36 poachers were apprehended red-handed by the forest police.

The figures, very low in comparison to previous years, demonstrate vividly the decline in poaching in the Brescia region. The number of brutal bow traps reached a historic low - never before have we found so few of these traps.

Until the publication of our final report you can read about our camp activities in our online diary here »»

Cyprus camp comes to an end

Record results - 4.014 limesticks and 21 nets collected (02.10.2011)

Thisn year’s autumn bird protection camp on Cyprus took place from 25.09. to 02.10.2011. Altogether 10 CABS members from Cyprus, Germany and Italy, as well as our colleagues from the Foundation Pro Biodiversity, took part in operations. The total of over 4,000 limesticks located and dismantled sets a new tragic record. Our teams have never before found so many traps during a CABS Cyprus operation. In addition 21 mist nets and 24 electronic bird lures were removed. Our information led to the arrest of one poacher by the police. As with all operations against illegal bird trapping on Cyprus there were almost daily incidents involving criminal and aggressive poachers. Fortunately no physical violence occurred this time around.

Our online diary of this risk-ridden operation can be read here »»

Hannes Jaenicke shoots anti-bird slaughter film spot on Majorca (25.02.2011)

“If the role is good” says Hannes Jaenicke “I’ll play it“. That goes at least for the TV productions shown this year in Germany with high quotas of viewers. As environmental activist, a role in which he has become well known in the past few years, he now has to turn down “90 % of the requests” because there are no more free slots in his diary. “Nonetheless, I do what I can”. And he keeps his word. Otherwise he wouldn’t take two days to go to Majorca to shoot a film spot for CABS and the Pro Biodiversity Foundation in their fight against the annual illegal and gruesome slaughter of millions of migrating birds in the Mediterranean region.

You can read more here