CABS anti-poaching camp in N. Italy (1 Viewer)

[David]

Daily diary of migrant bird protection camps Autumn 2007
Up to date daily reports on the CABS large scale migrant bird protection camps in Brescia, Northern Italy will be published in English online soon.

All the camps and operations are financed from the CABS budget and with the generous support of the Karl Kaus Foundation for Wildlife and Nature. If you able to support us financially please make a donation towards our international nature and wildlife protection work in Europe.

Running summary of results for Brescia autumn 2007:

• No. of traps collected: 65
• No. of snares collected: 0
• No. of nets collected: 2
• Live decoys confiscated: 0
• No. of weapons confiscated: 0
• No. of poachers caught: 0
• No. of complaints filed against hunters: 0

08.10.2007, Monday
Four teams (10 participants) out on operations.
One team was on the western side of Lake Garda where they found no traps or nets; but came across a hunter using an electronic ‘Chaffinch’ lure. When they spoke to him about the lure, he became very indignant, aimed his shotgun at one of the Germans in the team and – without warning – fired a load of shot into the ground at the feet of the team members. He was photographed and it is hoped he can be identified by the police and charged.
Another team covered the central shore of Lake Iseo and found and removed 31 metal snap traps. The team on the northern shore found a net and 11 lime sticks. These were left in place for the forest police to ambush.
The fourth team covered trapping sites in Val Camonica und in Val Trompia where poachers had been caught the last 2 years. All the sites were abandoned – the poachers have apparently given up!

07.10.2007, Sunday
In the morning there was a demonstration against hunting of migrant birds on the Colle San Zeno – a pass between Val Camonica and Val Trompia at almost 2,000 m. Some 30 members of our partner organisation LAC took part, not bad for 9.00 am in the Alps!
At the camp, 10 participants in 3 teams took part in operations. Not far from the site of the demonstration a trapper’s net and a trap line with 15 bow traps were located and details passed to the forest police.
In the lower Val Trompia, one of our teams swept an area where two years ago 40 nets and over 100 live decoys had been found. The sites are now all abandoned.

06.10.2007, Saturday
The first day in the camp in Val Camonica - not yet fully manned.
Two teams with altogether 6 participants locate a small trap line with 8 bow traps (Archetti) near Lake Iseo. Ten years ago we would have found 20 times that number of illegal traps here!



05.10.2007, Friday
The first participants arrive in the evening at Iseo. The large scale CABS bird protection camp in Brescia province begins in earnest tomorrow.

I will publish the online diary link when it is active.

 

[David]

I have now updated the website and the camp diary - updated daily - is now online here:

http://www.komitee.de/en/index.php?campdiary2007

Please bookmark!

David
PROACT CAMPAIGNS NET
<http://www.proact-campaigns.net/currentproactcampaigns> ... campaigning for birds and their habitats - joining costs nothing, doing nothing costs birds!
CABS <http://www.komitee.de/en/> ... actively operating against illegal hunting across Europe

 

[A CHAPLIN]

Hi Everybody,

I would like to personally thank David Conlin for all the hard work he has done in a short space of time, translating the CABS' website into English and for the daily diaries of events both in Malta and now in Italy as well as taking part in the Malta camps and running Proact his own organisation of which I am proud to be a member.

Thank you David from me and the birds whose lives you have saved.

Ann :egghead::flowers::flyaway:

 

[David]

CABS Press Statement on N. Italy bird camp

PRESS STATEMENT ++ 19.10.2007 ++

Raid against illegal bird trappers at Lake Garda
Robins end up on the skewer in Italy


Bonn/Tremosine. On Thursday 18 October, officers of the Italian forest police dismantled a huge net trapping site for migrant dong birds in the middle of a popular holiday region and arrested two poachers. According to CABS, whose teams discovered the trapping site, more than 100 dead and living song birds, including finches, robins and dunnocks, were seized in the raid in the Tremosine district. The poachers had erected 10 fine mist nets, with a total length of some 200 m, as well as lime sticks in their gardens. The traps were surrounded by 26 live bird decoys in cages. “This facility has probably been responsible for the death of hundreds of song birds in the past few weeks, which are then sold” commented CABS spokesman Axel Hirschfeld. Both poachers, one of whom has a hunting licence, will be prosecuted.

Song birds, grilled on skewers and served up with polenta, are still regarded by many Italians as delicacies and, despite strict laws banning their trapping, are still caught and sold in large numbers. The main hot spot for illegal trapping is in the Southern Alps, where hundreds of thousands of birds meet their death every year in nets and traps. At the present time more than 30 CABS members are active in the area around Lake Garda on operations conducted to prevent the illegal trapping. CABS teams, together with their Italian partner organisations, search daily for trapping sites which are then reported to the forest police. Since the start of operations at the beginning of October some 820 bow and other traps and 44 nets set out for illegal trapping have been located and dismantled. 20 poachers have been caught red-handed and 37 live decoy birds have been set free. Details and results of our operations are published online daily in our camp blog