Slaughter of Red-footed Falcons in Cyprus

Not sure if anyone has been following this but the “poachers” who shot 52 Red-footed Falcons in Cyprus eventually came to trial this week.

Full story from the Cyprus Mail –

BirdLife Cyprus cries foul on ‘derisory’ penalty for falcon slaughter By Anna Hassapi

AN SBA Court yesterday imposed a fine of €1,250 each on the two poachers involved in the shocking falcon massacre at Phasouri, where 52 endangered red-footed falcons were shot dead.

BirdLife Cyprus expressed its outrage at the “derisory” sentence, having hoped for a stringent sanction to act as a deterrent on would-be poachers.

“This is disastrous case of failure of a judicial system coming close on the heels of failure of an enforcement system,” said BirdLife Cyprus Executive Manager Martin Hellicar.

“The shooting of these highly endangered falcons should never have been allowed to happen and the derisory penalties imposed today will not even begin to act as a deterrent for other would-be poachers in what is a well-known poaching black-spot.”

Under the relevant bird protection law, the British Sovereign Base Area (SBA) court could have imposed a fine of up to €17,000 or up to three years’ imprisonment, or both.

The October massacre was the worst case of bird of prey killing ever reported in Cyprus.

The two poachers, however, received a light sentence with no prison time, as the prosecution finally amended the number of shot falcons to four. This ‘compromise’ was the result of heavy plea-bargaining.

Despite admitting to shooting the falcons in their testimony to SBA police shortly after their arrest in mid-October, the two had initially pleaded not guilty before the court to charges of shooting protected species in a prohibited area. The two men finally admitted to shooting four of the birds, claiming they had mistaken them for turtle doves.

Even so, questions are raised on whether the number of birds shot down or the fact that this is a rare, protected species should have been the essence of the case. And if the suspects shot only four of the birds, how, then, did the rest perish?

“Unfortunately, ineffective penalties such as the ones imposed yesterday are the norm when it comes to poaching offences in Cyprus, whether this be with guns, nets or limesticks. It is high time for Brussels to take serious note of the degenerating poaching situation in Cyprus – particularly as regards illegal bird trapping, which doubled last Autumn – and demand effective enforcement action from both the UK and Cyprus governments.”

The October 5 shooting of the Red-footed falcon flock caused widespread outrage in Cyprus and abroad. The handsome falcons – a species of global conservation concern – appeared to have been shot down for “target practice” as they rested on the Akrotiri peninsula, a key stop-over point for migrant birds heading for Africa. Farm workers found 46 of the migrating falcon flock dead at the scene. Six injured birds were taken to the Cyprus Game Fund bird hospital, where they later died of their injuries.

This is not the first time illegal shooting has resulted in the killing of birds of prey and other migrants, such as bee-eaters, at Phasouri on the Akrotiri peninsula near Limassol. BirdLife Cyprus has for years been calling for effective anti-poaching action on the peninsula, which is the most important autumn migration stop-over area on the island for thousands of birds, and birds of prey in particular.

After the October massacre, the SBA police and Cyprus Game Fund said they were stepping up joint anti-poaching patrols in the Akrotiri area. The main problem on the peninsula in recent years has been the absence of such joint action.
Taking advantage of this enforcement gap, illegal hunters have profited along the ‘border’ between the SBA and Republic, simply stepping across the dividing line to avoid either SBA Police or Game Fund patrols.

Ongoing monitoring of illegal bird trapping by BirdLife Cyprus showed that trappers on the island killed an estimated 500,000 birds in Autumn 2007, to be sold as expensive ambelopoulia delicacies in local restaurants. The banned delicacies are freely available in local restaurants.

BirdLife Cyprus added that the poaching situation in general – and the ituation regarding illegal bird trapping in particular, was deteriorating on the sland, and called for urgent intervention from the EU.

“BirdLife Cyprus will be keeping a very close watch on the poaching situation n the Akrotiri area,” Hellicar vowed.