Huge wins this autumn in Cyprus - €239,770 in fines issued!
04.12.2025
Between September 10 and November 25, the Committee Against Bird Slaughter (CABS), working with Cypriot Police and Game Wardens, conducted 75 joint operations that resulted in 55 convictions and over €239,770 in fines issued. Our teams seized 1,547 limesticks and 137 mist-nets, and rescued 1,286 live protected birds, saving countless more as a direct result of our actions. Crucially, the operations included major raids initiated after CABS, together with broadcasters Chris Packham and Megan McCubbin, exposed the industrial-scale trapping through the 'Operation Dead Air' campaign, leading to major fines against notorious trapping gangs and sending a strong message that no one is above the law!
Read our full Press Release here.
Wild bird dealers caught red-handed in Italy
01.12.2025
At a bird fair in Modena, northern Italy, a CABS team caught a Maltese poacher during an inspection. The man had exhibited numerous native bird species, including various songbirds and waders and even a hoopoe. During the inspection, it was discovered that four birds had been fitted with manipulated or false rings – a little stint, a black redstart, a bluethroat and a Sardinian warbler were seized by the police. Just a few days earlier, CABS experts had also found 39 songbirds with fake rings at a bird dealer in Palermo (Sicily) – 39 birds were confiscated. The market for songbirds in Italy, which includes ‘decoy’ birds for hunting as well as ‘pet birds’, is flooded with improperly ringed birds.
Action against bird trapping on Santorini
24.11.2025
Bird trapping is still widespread on the Greek Aegean island of Santorini. In late autumn, goldfinches and greenfinches are caught using cage traps and nets so they can be kept as cage and aviary birds. At this year’s bird protection camp on Santorini, our teams have so far checked more than 100 trapping sites and have caught five poachers, together with the police and hunting authorities. Seven clap-nets, 92 limesticks and 26 cage traps have been seized, and 128 finches released. Discussions have also already taken place with politicians and the island’s administration to make the campaign even more effective in the coming years.
Spain: CABS and Civil Guardia Civil catch 16 poachers!
17.11.2025
The trapping season is also coming to an end in the western Mediterranean, and our bird protection camp in eastern Spain is now complete. Since the end of October, our teams have been working every night in the coastal plain between Valencia and the Ebro Delta. Together with officers from the Guardia Civil, they have apprehended 16 poachers at 12 trapping sites. The men had been using parany – elaborate trapping devices made from sticky rods cut from giant carob trees. The police officers seized a total of 2,000 sticky rods, 12 set nets and 30 small beat nets. Our Spain team is not heading home now, but to Andalusia, where we will be searching for nets and beat traps.
Read more about our campaigns and operations in Spain here.
Northern Italy: 49 poachers convicted!
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.
Anti-poaching raids against bird trapping ‘farms’ in Lebanon
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.
Victory in court: Finch hunting in Italy violates EU law!
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 ...
Update from our ongoing actions in Cyprus
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.
347 court cases against poachers in Malta
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
Your donation makes the difference!
Your donation will enable us to fund our campaigns and bird protection camps throughout Europe, to keep up the fight for migratory birds. CABS is almost exclusively financed with private donations, from nature and animal lovers, as well as foundations and nature conservation associations. In order to stay independent, we do not receive public funds and we refuse business sponsorships. CABS is recognised as non-profit, thus, donations are tax-deductible. For a donation of 25 € or more, you will receive a donation receipt at the beginning of the following year.
