08.11.2025

Our 40th autumn bird protection camp in Brescia (Lombardy) in northern Italy has now come to an end after five weeks. The region between Lake Iseo and Lake Garda is one of the main hotspots for poaching in Europe, which is why our bird protection camps have been held here during the migration season since 1985. 

Since the beginning of October, a total of 41 participants have been on duty – every day, they searched for trapping and hunting sites in the area covering over 4,000 square kilometres. Thanks to our reports, 49 poachers have been caught. In total, the authorities seized 11 glue sticks, 19 bow traps, 112 nets and 277 snap traps, 14 electronic decoys, 20 shotguns and 1,825 rounds of ammunition. A further 1,006 birds were confiscated, including 423 live thrushes and finches, which were released. In Brescia, the onset of winter has now brought the hunting season to an end – the next operation here will take place in spring.

05.11.2025

In another joint anti-poaching operation between the Committee Against bird Slaughter (CABS), our Lebanese partners at the Society for the Protection of Nature in Lebanon (SPNL), MESHC Anti-Poaching Unit and the Lebanese Security Forces and Intelligence Division we struck a major blow in the north-east of the country. Across a string of raids, our teams successfully dismantled 52 huge fixed nets (nearly 8,000m²), leading to criminal proceedings against eight suspects and the seizure of electronic decoy devices. This effort contributed to a total of ~160 nets dismantled this autumn. While tragically 48 birds died, the teams freed 27 live animals, including bluethroats and greenfinches and wheatear, ensuring these confiscated nets are destroyed and saving tens of thousands of migratory birds.

A short reel of the operation is available on our Instagram page here. 

03.11.2025

In the eastern Spanish region of Valencia, bird trapping with glue sticks has a long tradition. Although this method of trapping has been banned since 2010, some diehards cannot resist continuing the practice. They set out the sticky traps – plastic sticks coated with synthetic glue – at night and play recorded bird songs to attract the birds. During their first night-time operations, Committee Against Bird Slaughter (CABS) teams working with the Guardia Civil caught two poachers. A total of 250 glue sticks were collected from them and a whole host of heavily stuck blackcaps were rescued. Songbirds are a popular seasonal delicacy in Spain, as elsewhere in the Mediterranean region. Fifteen years ago, there were still around 500 trapping facilities, but today there are probably no more than 50.

Read more about our campaign in Spain here. 

31.10.2025

This autumn, the right-wing populist government of the northern Italian region of Lombardy allowed the hunting of chaffinches, which are protected throughout Europe, in violation of applicable law. From 1 October to 31 October, 97,600 finches were authorised to be shot. Hunters made extensive use of this election gift – since the beginning of October, they have been shooting at the migratory birds with all their might. The Supreme Administrative Court in Rome, which was called upon by a coalition of Italian nature conservation associations – including the Committee Against Bird Slaughter – ruled today that the hunting permit clearly violates EU law and is therefore unlawful.

Read more on this topic here ...

27.10.2025

34 poachers convicted, 91 nets and almost 1,400 limesticks dismantled: The bird protection camp organised by the Committee Against Bird Slaughter in Cyprus has now been running for five weeks. Participants from all over Europe have done a great job: thanks to our teams’ field investigations and reports, 34 poachers have been convicted so far, 29 for bird trapping and five for illegal hunting. The police and hunting authorities have seized 1,397 limesticks, 91 nets and 51 electronic decoys from the perpetrators. No fewer than 1,0954 birds were rescued and released from traps and nets, including hundreds of blackcaps and lesser whitethroats, as well as marsh warblers, masked shrikes, red-backed shrikes, redstarts, wrynecks and even a savi’s warbler – a species that we have never recorded as a victim of poaching.

24.10.2025

In Aabdeh, in northern Lebanon, we shut down a trapping ‘farm’ where migratory birds were being caught on an industrial scale. A total of 55 nets with a total length of around 1,250 m were found in an extensive lime plantation. This is the largest facility of its kind that we have seen in our 50-year history – between 1,000 and 1,500 birds were caught here every day. Of the approximately 500 freshly caught birds, around 300 were still alive – including various warblers, shrikes, a corncrake and an Egyptian Fruit bat! Due to the heated situation near the Syrian border, our team had to leave the area under police protection.

You can find more pictures of this spectacular operation on our Facebook post from today.

A YouTube video can be found here

16.10.2025

CABS today published an evaluation of a total of 347 court cases against Maltese poachers over the last 10 years. These include 298 cases of illegal bird trapping, 34 cases related to hunting and 15 other cases such as the illegal possession and sale of protected species. The proceedings resulted in 217 convictions and 63 acquittals. The remaining 67 cases are mostly still pending or their outcome is unknown. The courts imposed various penalties, including prison sentences, fines, the withdrawal of hunting and trapping licences, and the confiscation of hunting equipment. The fines totalled more than €300,000. In addition to this several thousands of live protected birds were seized from the accused and subsequently released.

You can find our press release here

15.10.2025

RIn the first ten days of our month-long mission in the northern Italian Alps, we have already caught 24 poachers – more than twice as many as in the same period last year. These include 17 bird trappers who had set up illegal traps and nets, five hunters who we caught hunting protected species (mainly finches and robins) and two bird traders who were selling illegally caught birds with fake rings. As a direct result of our field investigations, the police and hunting authorities seized a total of 15 bow traps, 132 snap traps, 39 set nets, 22 nets, 7 weapons and around 1,100 rounds of ammunition. In addition, 178 dead birds were found in the possession of the perpetrators, and 263 live birds (mainly song thrushes) were confiscated and released. 

Read more about our annual autumn camp in Brescia here

05.09.2025

After the Chris Packham and Megan McCubbin joined us and reported extensively on the inaction of the Cypriot authorities in relation to poaching; over the past 14 days, they have now finally taken decisive action! 

Following reports from the Committee Against Bird Slaughter, the police have arrested two poachers known throughout the island, including gang leader ‘Akas’. Twenty-nine nets, several weapons, 1,165 plucked birds and an unspecified amount of drugs were seized, and a total of 496 birds were freed from the nets. 

The punishment was imposed immediately – the two perpetrators must pay a total fine of €62,000! This is our largest operation against organised poaching in Cyprus in many years.