Falconry World

The two men charged in connection with the October 5 massacre of 52 Red-footed Falcons Falco vespertinus in the Phasouri area of Cypus, have recieved a small fine after being found guilty of shooting only four falcons. The shocking massacre of the migrating falcons – the worst incident of bird of prey killing ever reported in Cyprus – made headlines across Europe. The shot falcons – a species of global conservation concern – appear to have been hit for target practice.

But the court only imposed a fine of €1,250 each on the two poachers involved in the falcon massacre at Phasouri.

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 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.”

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 and called for urgent intervention from the EU.