Who killed cock robin? The hungry Cypriots did in annual slaughter

RSPB says songbirds fleeing the cold to Cyprus this year will be illegally killed and served up in restaurants as a local delicacy
Press Association, guardian.co.uk 23 Dec 09;

As a favourite winter bird they appear on millions of Christmas cards every year, but robins face being illegally killed in enormous numbers this Christmas, conservationists warned today.

Many of the birds escape the freezing cold to spend the winter on Cyprus, only for hundreds of thousands to be illegally killed to provide a Cypriot delicacy – ambelopoulia – for local restaurants.

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) and its partner organisation BirdLife Cyprus, said one of the trapping hotspots was on the British Sovereign Base Area of Dhekalia.

The RSPB said it was "unacceptable" that the illegal slaughter of the birds was taking place on an area controlled by the British authorities.

During the autumn trapping season, an estimated 700,000 birds were caught in the area monitored by BirdLife Cyprus field workers, and the organisation believes the total may exceed 1 million. Winter figures are expected to be even higher.

BirdLife Cyprus's Martin Hellicar explained: "At this time of year, robins and other birds such as song thrushes, escape harsh conditions further north in Europe and travel to the island for the winter.

"Sadly many of these birds will be travelling to their deaths, particularly in the trapping hotbeds of Famagusta, Larnaca and the British sovereign base area of Dhekelia."

Ambelopoulia, a dish of pickled or boiled songbirds, is illegal, but the law is being widely flouted by many restaurants.

Tim Stowe, the RSPB's international director, said: "The illegal killing of songbirds has no place in a modern Europe and this increasing slaughter is placing increasing pressure on bird populations, many of which are already declining for other reasons.

"We remain concerned that many threatened species are also slain and we are working with BirdLife Cyprus to bring this barbaric practice to an end."

The birds are trapped in nets or caught on limesticks, where trappers coat sticks in "lime" – a concoction made from locally-occurring fruits.

The birds become stuck to the sticks until the trapper returns to kill them, usually with a toothpick to the throat.

The legs of the birds are often stuck so firmly to the glue sticks that they need to be pulled off.

This autumn was a disastrous season for bird trapping, with net use up by over a third compared to autumn 2008. Limestick use is also on the rise.

Netting levels were particularly high in the Dhekelia sovereign British base (SBA) area, notably on the Pyla range, a British army exercise area.

Mr Stowe said: "For such a trapping free-for-all to be going on in an area supposedly controlled by the British authorities is unbelievable and unacceptable."The SBA police and British army sweep operation in this area in October was a welcome first step in tackling what is industrial-level trapping, but this decisive action needs to be repeated until this is dealt with."