Rare birds, animals sold openly in Puducherry

Puducherry: Migratory birds and endangered animals protected by the Indian wildlife laws are being sold openly in a market in Puducherry. CNN-IBN has accessed images that expose the thriving lucrative business.

The images show ibis and purple moorhens, open billed storks being sold openly at roadside stalls.

These birds visit the Oussudu Wildlife Sanctuary in the winters for breeding where they are allegedly hunted. Jungle cats, palm civets, porcupine, monitor lizards and jackals are also being sold at roadside stalls.

The birds are reportedly being sold for Rs 100 per kg while the more endangered species are being sold for Rs 400 to Rs 500 per kg.

CNN-IBN also spoke to the Divisional Forest Officer, Puducherry, who expressed his helplessness in curtailing sale of endangered species in the region. He said that poaching was mainly done by a particular tribe here, the Narikowa.

"Poaching can be attributed to a particular tribe called Narikowa. We have tried several times to curtail this, but whenever we take any action, the community stops us, gheraoes us."

"They don't have any alternate means of livelihood," he adds.

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/rare-birds-animals-sold-openly-in-puducherry/262915-3.html

2.8 million birds trapped in Cyprus in 2011 – Highest ever

Trappers ignoring rules
May 2012. BirdLife Cyprus has completed another year of monitoring of illegal bird trapping as part of its on-going anti-trapping campaign, with the overall picture revealing the magnitude of an ecological disaster. BirdLife undertook surveillance during spring, autumn and winter 2011 and the estimated death toll sums up to the shocking figure of 2.8 million birds, the highest estimate since year-round monitoring began five years ago. 

Trappers are no longer concerned with prosecution
BirdLife Cyprus has just finalized its winter trapping report for 2011. Trapping levels were similar to the previous winter season, with a small decrease of 8% in trapping activity recorded in winter 2011 compared to winter 2010. A total of 616 metres of active net rides were recorded during winter 2011, suggesting that over 400,000 wintering birds could have been caught in mist nets across the whole of Cyprus. An alarming number of mist nets in situ was recorded this winter, an increase of 300% compared to winter 2010, a clear indication that trappers are no longer concerned by the threat of prosecution.

Bird trapping is completely out of control"
‘Although these numbers are an estimate, they show that illegal bird trapping activity is getting completely out of control", said Dr Clairie Papazoglou, Executive Director of BirdLife Cyprus. "We have been recording a dramatic increase in trapping activity in the last few years. Too many people are still supporting this indiscriminate slaughter by eating ambelopoulia. People need to take on board what the ecological impact of eating ambelopoulia is and to stop demanding the illegal bird delicacies'" said Papazoglou.

"Also, the competent authorities need to re-double their efforts, implementing a strict ‘zero tolerance' approach across the entire bird crime chain, from the trapping sites to the restaurants offering birds", continued Papazoglou.

Targeting migratory birds
Illegal bird trappers are after migratory birds passing through Cyprus during spring and autumn or after wintering birds, mainly song thrushes (Turdus philomelos), during the winter season. The non-selectivity of mist nets and limesticks means that the catch is indiscriminate, with over 100 bird species recorded trapped, many of them considered rare and threatened. And as the death estimate suggests, bird trapping is nowadays extensive, run at an ‘industrial' level with huge profits to be made from selling the trapped birds to restaurants and for domestic consumption.

The ‘Larnaca Declaration'
The record annual death toll estimate of 2011 can only suggest that the ‘zero tolerance' approach that was pledged by all participants, including competent authorities, at the first Europe-wide conference on illegal killing of birds in Larnaca (Cyprus) in July (2011), has not materialized. The ‘Larnaca Declaration' and its recommendations outline the key tools to tackle this persistent illegality, including strengthening of enforcement and the development of a public awareness campaign. BirdLife Cyprus calls on the authorities to adopt the recommendations of the ‘Larnaca Declaration' and to draw up targeted action plans to stop illegal bird trapping.

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/cyprus-burd-trap.html

Environment: migratory birds, ecological disaster in Cyprus

2.8 million birds killed or captured illegally in 2011

(ANSAmed) - NICOSIA - Deaf to appeals by local, international and EU ecologists, the Cypriot authorities are continuing to play a role in a serious environmental disaster. Last year, in the southern part of the island, 2.8 million migratory birds, many of them belonging to rare and protected species, were illegally captured and killed.

The slaughter of biblical proportions (last year's death toll was an estimated 1.4 million) has once again been condemned by the Cypriot environmentalist group BirdLifeCyprus, which has just published its latest report on the situation, which says that those mainly responsible for the killings are not only hunters but also poachers, with an illegal market now accounting for millions of euros per year. There is a merciless hunt for small migratory birds - mainly blackcaps, chaffinches, zitting cisticolas and hoopoes - which are illegally captured and then served as delicacies in restaurants on the island at a cost of 80 euros for a plate of 12. During the winter, hunters especially kill thrushes and robins, while summer is the season in which migratory birds are targeted. In Cyprus, where the birds pass between March and April and between August and October, their capture is forbidden by law but widely tolerated by the local authorities. Poachers are therefore able to act untroubled using wide nets with thin meshing spread among the trees or sticks infused with gluey substances hidden in bushes. The method causes the slow death of the trapped bird from hunger and thirst, and its use has increased by 300% compared to last year, a figure that suggests that poachers are far from dissuaded by potential legal penalties.

In July of last year, a major European conference on bird poaching was held in the city of Larnaca, the first time that Cyprus had staged such an event. The conference was attended by over 100 experts from a range of European countries, who underlined the need for a "zero tolerance" approach towards poaching and called on all of the competent European and local authorities to act to put an end to the slaughter. "Unfortunately, 2011 figures paint a picture that completely contradicts the decisions taken in the conference and measures must be adopted immediately to stop the illegal capture of the birds," said a Birdlife spokesperson.

In a joint statement from Germany, the Committee Against Bird Slaughter (CABS) and the Cypriot section of Friends of the Earth (FOE) have announce that volunteers have found 3,817 traps in only 2 weeks, as well as 23 nets with invisible meshing and 32 electronic decoys in the island's south-eastern Famagusta area alone, which has one of the highest concentration of bird passage. "This is in stark contrast with the relatively weak efforts of the police in this critical area, where pressure on migratory birds through illegal capture is at its highest," say CABS and FOE.

The local hunting organisation and the anti-poaching division of the Cypriot police have significantly stepped up their efforts to tackle the illegal capture of birds, the two organisations say. The report by Birdlife, however, clearly shows that the efforts made by the authorities to tackle poaching in the eastern area of Larnaca, which includes the British military base in Dekelia and the Famagusta area, are significantly weaker than in other affected areas. "The only conclusion can be that political reasons have a role in this," say the CABS and the FOE, adding that this is why practical cooperation on the ground with police is very limited. "This is disappointing, as closer cooperation would have led to the seizure of a greater number of traps and more trials against poachers, and would have discouraged physical attacks on environmentalists searching for traps and nets across the island," the organisations say. (ANSAmed).

http://www.ansamed.info/ansamed/en/news/nations/cyprus/2012/03/01/visualizza_new.html_126300816.html 

WARSHIPS BECAME A BIRD REFUGE IN AFRICA

John Ingham


BEAUTY and war are rare bedfellows but they came together in style when a Royal Navy warship became a bird refuge.

Stunning pictures released yesterday show how birds flocked to the Type 42 destroyer even though it frequently came under fire from Colonel Gaddafi’s shore batteries and itself unleashed more than 100 shells against his forces.


The 43 species were recorded by the “birdman of Liverpool” Chief Petty Officer Mark Cutts who was in charge of all stores on board, from pencils to Sea Dart missiles.


Swallows rested on ledges, a collared flycatcher perched on a Lynx helicopter and a black redstart roamed the deck.


Other birds seeking shelter from fatigue or fog while crossing the Med included a squacco heron, a chiffchaff and several turtle doves. 


When HMS Liverpool moved into the Arabian Gulf a Saker falcon, a big relative of our peregrines, made a flying visit.


HMS Liverpool also gave several insects a breather, including hummingbird hawk-moths and, appropriately, a lot of red admirals.


RSPB expert Grahame Madge said the sightings show that you can marvel at nature anywhere. And Mark, 46, originally from North London but now living in Portsmouth, said: “Even while under fire from the shore or constantly being called to action stations there were still times when during a lull I would take time to look around the upper deck.


“It was amazing to see some of the birds that we see every day in the UK – swallows, robins, song thrushes and starlings – migrating from breeding grounds in Europe to wintering quarters in Africa.


“My favourite bird on board was the hoopoe. I was constantly told by the crew, ‘I just saw the thing with the pink mohican again.’”


But Mark, a member of the Royal Naval Birdwatching Society whose old boys include Sir Peter Scott, founder of the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust and the WWF, said one species perfect for a Royal Navy warship never showed up.


He said: “I’m afraid we never saw any wrens, they just don’t migrate.”


http://www.express.co.uk/ourcomments/view/305550/John-Ingham

Vigil saves rare birds

Poachers find paradise at Gangetic sandbar in Bhagalpur

GAUTAM SARKAR

Bhagalpur, Feb. 19: The administration has stepped up vigil against poachers to save migratory birds at the eco-friendly Gangetic diara in the district. The diara (sandbar) is considered a green belt and was in the news recently when the residents of Dharhara, a village in the riverine area, decided to celebrate the birth of a girl by planting saplings. But there are places in the Naugachia sub-division where many people earn their livelihood by catching and selling migratory birds. These areas fall in the 63km-stretch between Sultanganj and Kahalgaon. The administration’s bid to check poaching paid off on Saturday when a team of Naugachia sub-division officials caught six poachers and found 48 migratory birds on them. “I had asked my officials to step up the vigil on such illegal activities. I had also told them not to divulge our plan to anybody,” district magistrate Narmadeshwar Lal said. He said the officials posed as prospective buyers and approached some poachers at Birbanna village under Narayanpur block. Though the poachers demanded Rs 1,600 for a pair of birds, they finally agreed to sell them for Rs 1,000. Naugachia sub-divisional officer Sushil Kumar said: “They handed me 48 birds that they had caught. It was then that the officials arrested the six poachers.” Indian Bird Conservation Network and Wetlands International State co-ordinator Arvind Mishra said all the birds recovered were protected under Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120220/jsp/bihar/story_15154335.jsp

Vigil saves rare birds

Bhagalpur, Feb. 19: The administration has stepped up vigil against poachers to save migratory birds at the eco-friendly Gangetic diara in the district.

The diara (sandbar) is considered a green belt and was in the news recently when the residents of Dharhara, a village in the riverine area, decided to celebrate the birth of a girl by planting saplings. But there are places in the Naugachia sub-division where many people earn their livelihood by catching and selling migratory birds.

These areas fall in the 63km-stretch between Sultanganj and Kahalgaon.

The administration’s bid to check poaching paid off on Saturday when a team of Naugachia sub-division officials caught six poachers and found 48 migratory birds on them.

“I had asked my officials to step up the vigil on such illegal activities. I had also told them not to divulge our plan to anybody,” district magistrate Narmadeshwar Lal said.

He said the officials posed as prospective buyers and approached some poachers at Birbanna village under Narayanpur block. Though the poachers demanded Rs 1,600 for a pair of birds, they finally agreed to sell them for Rs 1,000.

Naugachia sub-divisional officer Sushil Kumar said: “They handed me 48 birds that they had caught. It was then that the officials arrested the six poachers.”

Indian Bird Conservation Network and Wetlands International State co-ordinator Arvind Mishra said all the birds recovered were protected under Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120220/jsp/jharkhand/story_15155877.jsp

'Rare' migratory swan cygnet survival at WWT Welney

One of two cygnets bred by a pair of migratory swans has survived, creating a rare sight for UK birdwatchers.

Two whooper swan cygnets, native to Iceland, hatched at WWT Welney on the Norfolk-Cambridgeshire border this week after their parents failed to fly home.

With one cygnet dying soon after hatching, the final young becomes the first to survive in Norfolk since 1928, the WWT said.

The RSPB said around three to seven pairs breed in Britain every year.

But the WWT said it was very rare for cygnets to hatch successfully on UK shores.

'Rare spectacle'
The male swan, Romeo, has stayed with the female, called Julietta, after she was injured in the UK.

It is thought she struck power lines and may not fully recover to fly again.

"They hatched a brood despite the odds being stacked against them... we're really pleased for them," said Leigh Marshall, reserve manager at WWT Welney.

"Visitors are coming to see the rare spectacle, but showing the utmost respect."

A spokeswoman for Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust said it was likely the parents would continue to look after the remaining cygnet until it decides whether or not to migrate back with the next wedge of whooper swans in April.

Thousands of whooper and bewick swans from the Arctic region settle on the Cambridgeshire fens and north Norfolk coast every winter.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-14340420