Some of the 52 Red-footed Falcons shot by two poachers at Phasouri, Cyprus. Zoom In | Hi-Res

BirdLife Cyprus cries foul over weak penalty for falcon slaughterers

29-02-2008

A pair of poachers involved in the shocking shooting of 52 Red-footed Falcons Falco vespertinus at Akrotiri, Cyprus, last year were yesterday fined a “derisory” €1,250 each, BirdLife Cyprus protested.

The British Sovereign Base Area (SBA) court could have imposed a maxiumum penalty of €17,000 and three years imprisonment. The massacre was the worst case of raptor killing ever reported in Cyprus.

BirdLife Cyprus added that the poaching and trapping situation is deteriorating on the island and call for urgent EU intervention.

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 —Martin Hellicar, BirdLife Cyprus Executive Manager

Despite admitting to shooting the falcons to police shortly after their arrest in mid-October 2007, the pair had initially pleaded 'not guilty' before the court to charges of shooting protected species in a prohibited area. However, after plea-bargaining before court today, the two Limassol men admitted to shooting just four of the falcons, which they claimed to have mistaken for European Turtle-doves Streptopelia turtur.

“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. 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.”

"Unfortunately, ineffective penalties such as the ones imposed today 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."

On-going 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 were found to be freely available in local restaurants.

The cold-blooded October 5^th shooting of the Red-footed Falcon flock had 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 forty-six 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.