A video posted on YouTube by a group campaigning against illegal bird trapping in Cyprus shows shocking scenes of birds struggling in nets or stuck fast to tree branches that have been thickly smeared with a glue-like substance. The new EU member state Cyprus has become a death trap for birds which migrate across the eastern Mediterranean.
International Animal Rescue’s chairman in Malta, Max Farrugia, has sent a letter of support to the German group CABS (Committee Against Bird Slaughter) for exposing the cruel practices of Cypriot trappers to the world.
International Animal Rescue works with CABS in Malta where illegal shooting and trapping also kills countless migrating birds each year, from familiar garden species to endangered birds of prey. They are currently running a bird protection camp in Malta at which volunteers from around the world monitor the hunters’ activity and report anything illegal or suspicious to the police.
Max Farrugia has contacted Axel Hirschfeld at CABS and recommended that the two groups mount a joint international campaign against bird killing on the two islands in 2010. He suggests that the initiative could be launched at a press conference in October when most MEPs will be in Brussels and available to receive a video of evidence gathered in both Cyprus and Malta.
In October Farrugia will be attending a meeting in Brussels of ENDCAP, a European federation of wildlife groups from various European countries working against the keeping of wildlife in captivity. A significant number of MEPs is also due to attend the meeting.