Düren: Now 83 dead birds of prey in 15 months!

CABS uncovers Europe’s largest ever raptor massacre

Between 01. and 03.04.2008 CABS’ members and employees of the Düren district biological station, east of the town of Vettweiss-Disternich in the state of North-Rhine Westphalia, discovered no less than 43 dead birds of prey within a 48 hour period. These included 31 Common Buzzards, 2 Red Kites, 2 Goshawks, 1 Sparrowhawk, 1 Gray Heron and skeletons of 5 more raptors. The police who were called to the area recovered 25 dead birds on the grounds of public health. The remaining birds were left in location, as they were in such an advanced state of decay that they no longer presented a problem.

About half of the birds had died recently. The circumstances suggest that they had been poisoned. In the past few months dead birds of prey have been found again and again in this area and analysis by the state veterinary laboratory showed that they had been poisoned with the illegal insecticide Carbofuran. The Red Kite found dead on the 1st of April had a piece of meat bait hanging from its bill which it had not been able to swallow. This typically indicates the use of a rapid working nerve agent. The circumstances of the number of finds within a relatively small area - all the dead birds were within a 5 hectare area – and the immediate proximity to shooting stands and game feeding areas, suggest that these protected birds were most unlikely to have died of natural causes.

The owner of the hunting rights near the town of Vettweiss-Disternich was filmed by CABS’ members in January 2007 first removing a proved poisoned Common Buzzard from a field, then going to a Goshawk trap and checking it and, as he spotted the conservationists, removing the trap in haste. He admitted in front of the camera that he had set the trap. The Aachen police and public prosecutor have feverishly investigated the case since then.

Including the gruesome discoveries on the 1st of April, 59 illegally killed birds of prey have been found in the only 4 square kilometre area in Düren since May 2003 – 58 of them in the past 15 months. In addition 4 illegal traps have been found (3 of them so-called Goshawk basket traps) and several pieces of bait poisoned with Carbofuran.

This series of incidents is the largest such case of illegal bird of prey persecution for many years in Germany, perhaps even in Europe. It is hard to say what long term damage has been done to the otherwise species-rich bird life in this area.

A chronological list of events is here.

Press Clipping ... only in German, but nevertheless interesting

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KÖLNISCHE RUNDSCHAU: "Greifvögel in großem Stil vergiftet"

AACHENER ZEITUNG: "Greifvogelsterben nimmt dramatische Züge an"

DÜRENER ZEITUNG: "Anklage gegen Disternicher Jagdpächter"

DÜRENER ZEITUNG: "Tote Greifvögel gefunden"

WDR: Aktuelle Stunde, Beitrag "Greifvögel vergiftet" (TV)

AACHENER NACHRICHTEN: "Giftanschläge auf stolze Vögel"

EXPRESS KÖLN: "Wieder tote Greifvögel gefunden"

WDR 2 Radio (Radio)

WDR 5 Radio, Sendung Leonardo, "Roter Milan auf der Abschussliste" (Radio)

DEUTSCHLANDFUNK: "Illegale Jagd" (Radio)

POLIZEI DÜREN, Pressemeldung "Erneut tote Greifvögel aufgefunden"