05.11.2026

At our autumn bird protection camp in Cyprus, our main focus is on combating the illegal trapping of migratory birds using large nets and limesticks. After two months of continuous work, our CABS team on the island collected the 1000th limestick of this season at the weekend. The best thing about this success is not only that we have already managed to rescue more than 100 birds alive from the traps, but that every glue trap removed means countless other birds are not caught and can continue their journey. It is almost impossible to put a figure on exactly how many animals we have actually saved from death in this way, but we estimate it to be in the tens of thousands! So far, 35 poachers have been arrested during in the operation and 79 nets have also been dismantled. And we’re not stopping there!

02.11.2026

Our bird protection camp in eastern Spain has only just begun, and we’ve already caught the first offenders. North of Castellón (near Valencia), we discovered two active ‘parany’ – centuries-old olive trees that have been converted into bird-trapping installations – during a night-time operation at the weekend. The loud electronic decoys, which continuously play the song of song thrushes to attract birds migrating at night, also caught the attention of a CABS team. The Guardia Civil, were subsequently able to catch three offenders; they had fitted the parany with a total of 280 sticky twigs. In a third case, a bird trapper had set up a net in an open field and was also using a decoy device to attract birds.

Found out more about our campaigns and operations in Spain here. 

30.10.2026

On the Italian Mediterranean island of Sicily, endangered turtle doves and skylarks, as well as various thrushes, are permitted to be hunted. As we believe that hunting these endangered species is incompatible with EU law, we brought legal action against the hunting season regulations together with Green Impact. 

The Administrative Court in Palermo has today ruled in our favour: due to the absence of a management plan for the species authorised for hunting, the hunting is unlawful and must cease with immediate effect. The 27,000 Sicilian hunters are no longer permitted to go hunting until further notice. It will be several months before the management plan required by the court is adopted.

23.10.2026

Following a raid in the Bekaa Valley in early October, during which our teams, working alongside the police, found 125 nets, we have now also dealt a blow to bird trapping in Aabdeh. Last week, we were able to collect a further 165 set nets from gardens and orchards around the coastal town in northern Lebanon. Eleven landowners on whose land the trapping devices were found have been reported to the authorities. During the operation, around 200 freshly caught birds were freed. By removing the nearly 300 nets in Lebanon, we have saved more than 60,000 birds this autumn alone along the most important migration route between Europe and Africa.

You can find an impressive video of the operation in Bekaa on our instagram page here.

20.10.2026

Although Malta has already been found guilty twice by the European Court of Justice for finch trapping, from today thousands of bird trappers are once again permitted to use nets to hunt goldfinches, chaffinches, linnets, hawfinches and siskins. As the government claims, this has nothing to do with research, but serves to catch as many birds as possible illegally for the black market. Even in the weeks leading up to the official opening, our teams documented numerous cases of illegal bird trapping and caught eight poachers red-handed. The police, whom we alerted, seized nine snap-net setups, one set net and a 180-square-metre ground net used for catching quails. Thirty-nine live birds were seized and later released.

Find out more about our Malta campaign here. 

19.10.2026

During the first two weeks of this year’s autumn operation in Northern Italy, we were able to apprehend 21 poachers. Eleven individuals had illegally shot protected birds or used prohibited decoys whilst hunting, whilst ten offenders were charged with trapping birds using traps and nets. 

The police have seized eight capture nets, 412 bird traps, seven shotguns and five electronic decoy systems, as well as 139 shot or freshly caught birds. The operation, in which over 40 nature and animal lovers from Italy, the UK, Switzerland and Germany are taking part, will continue until early November.

Read more about our campaigns in Brescia here.

06.10.2026

At one of the largest known bird-of-prey slaughter sites in northern Lebanon, we can now report successful enforcement action. We monitored a prominent mountain site in Akkar over the weekend and, working alongside our partners at MECSHAP and the police, apprehended four individuals who had shot birds of prey. Officers intercepted two men - one of whom was carrying a sparrowhawk in his backpack at the scene the other poacher (who escaped arrest at the same site last autumn) was picked up by police as he was walking to his vehicle; they were taken to the police station, and their weapons were confiscated and criminal proceedings initiated. We were also able to track two other individuals, each of whom had shot two Honey Buzzards, back to their homes. We have handed over all necessary information and evidence to the police to initiate criminal proceedings.

05.10.2026

At the start of our four-week bird protection camp in Brescia, northern Italy, we scored a spectacular victory against professional bird trapping: on a remote mountain ridge not far from Lake Idro, near the border with Trentino, the police – acting on information provided by CABS – caught a man red-handed with over 190 snap traps set to catch robins. The perpetrator – a licensed hunter – had set the small traps throughout an entire woodland and had already caught nearly 30 birds that morning within just a few hours. Two robins were rescued, but the others were unfortunately already dead, as was a dormouse found in one of the treacherous traps. CABS had been tracking the man since 2020. Years of investigation and our efforts in September have now led to this successful police operation.

11.09.2026

Today we have released video footage providing the first evidence of a ‘single-parent’ male rearing harrier chicks. This is the world’s first video evidence of this behaviour in this species. The footage shows how, after the female’s disappearance, the male independently carves up his prey and feeds the chicks beak-to-beak. He also shields them from the sun’s rays and keeps them warm at night – tasks that, in harrier populations, are usually carried out only by the females. The harrier brood in the Zülpicher Börde is one of fewer than 10 broods of this species in the whole of Germany and the first in the region for 135 years.

You can find the link to the video on our YouTube channel showing the full story here.