Could you eat a Robin? – The work of LIPU – BirdLife in Italy (1 Viewer)

[dragnil]

For many years LIPU has mounted patrols in the hills of norther Italy, between Brescia and the lakes
to confiscate traps which have been illegally set in the autumn for decades. The perpetrators excuse this breach of Italian and European law by saying that it is in the hunting season but trapping using mist nets or the archetti spring traps is illegal at any time of the year.


The barbaric practice is driven not by machismo but by greed and money because, in the north, it is possible to “dine” on polenta e osei (polenta and wild birds) in local restaurants. It isn’t likely that you or I would see this on the menu, it is offered mainly to clients who can be trusted to keep their mouths shut after eating the dish.

Polenta e osei



The LIPU volunteers collect the nets and traps and these pictures give
an idea of the scale of theproblem. I took the picture of Paolo coming
back to camp some years ago and you would like to think that the practice is dying out, but this week a LIPU and Carabinieri raid to the north of Brescia resulted in this report:

About a hundred passerines, including Pied Flycatchers, Robins and thrushes, were seized recently by the Carabinieri forest police, in collaboration with the ornithologists of LIPU. The operation took place in Serle, in the province of Brescia, during the Operation Pettirosso (Operation Robin), aimed at combating trapping and poaching. During the checks, frozen birds were found hidden in the freezer, ready to be cooked in two of the eleven restaurants checked.


So the work goes on and it will continue, with the support and funding on LIPU-UK, until this disgusting practice is a distant memory.

 

[cmwildlife]

For many years LIPU has mounted patrols in the hills of norther Italy, between Brescia and the lakes
to confiscate traps which have been illegallyView attachment 1410539 set in the autumn for decades. The perpetrators excuse this breach of Italian and European law by saying that it is in the hunting season but trapping using mist nets or the archetti spring traps is illegal at any time of the year.

View attachment 1410535
The barbaric practice is driven not by machismo but by greed and money because, in the north, it is possible to “dine” on polenta e osei (polenta and wild birds) in local restaurants. It isn’t likely that you or I would see this on the menu, it is offered mainly to clients who can be trusted to keep their mouths shut after eating the dish.

Polenta e osei


View attachment 1410536
The LIPU volunteers collect the nets and traps and these pictures give
an idea of the scale of theproblem. I took the picture of Paolo coming
back to View attachment 1410537camp some years ago and you would like to think that the practice is dying out, but this week a LIPU and Carabinieri raid to the north of Brescia resulted in this report:

About a hundred passerines, including Pied Flycatchers, Robins and thrushes, were seized recently by the Carabinieri forest police, in collaboration with the ornithologists of LIPU. The operation took place in Serle, in the province of Brescia, during the Operation Pettirosso (Operation Robin), aimed at combating trapping and poaching. During the checks, frozen birds were found hidden in the freezer, ready to be cooked in two of the eleven restaurants checked.


So the work goes on and it will continue, with the support and funding on LIPU-UK, until this disgusting practice is a distant memory.

View attachment 1410538

Thanks for the hard work that LIPU has been doing for many years in Italy. Hopefully the situation will improve over the years as new generations become more aware of these issues - perhaps some kind of educational program in primary/secondary school would have positive long-term effects on people's behaviors!

Christian (an italian in Hong Kong)

 

[dragnil]

Thanks for the hard work that LIPU has been doing for many years in Italy. Hopefully the situation will improve over the years as new generations become more aware of these issues - perhaps some kind of educational program in primary/secondary school would have positive long-term effects on people's behaviors!

Christian (an italian in Hong Kong)

Thanks for your thoughts, Christian, LIPU does indeed spend a lot of time and effort in the schools. As you say, it's very much a generational thing, young people are much more aware of nature - but it's very hard to change the habits of the old men (and I speak as one!).

 

[Jos Stratford]

Good work, keep it up 👍

 

[Andy Adcock]

This needs to be followed by stiff, penalties being handed down by the courts, without this, nothing will change.

 

[Maroon Jay]

Not only in Italy. This goes on all around the Mediterranean, especially in Italy, Malta, Cyprus and Lebanon. Also in China. The Yellow-breasted bunting is a cute little bird that is Critically Endangered. It is Critically Endangered because the Chinese are eating them into extinction.

 

[jurek]

Congratulations, keep up the good work!

I wonder if it makes sense to use social media or whatever to make this practice unfashionable or frowned upon. My understanding is that people don't need to eat birds, it is just a fashion of sorts.

 

[rosbifs]

Small successes but successes none the less - I know you, and the other David, work towards helping LIPU in more ways than providing financial support but also, as Jurek points out, through social media and raising awareness.

What people fail to understand is the difficulty in these rural areas in educating or even raising awareness against these practices locally. The bear is bad we don't want it, birds are for eating, we've done it for a thousand years, pigeons will never die out, I even heard, thankfully not directly, 'I knew as I was pulling the trigger that it was the last male (capercaillie) in the wood'!!!!!

Our village has 1,700 people but when they put on a hunting 'fete' more than 3,000 people went through the doors in a day. A bird photography exhibition drew about 100 over a week - 15 for a film about the Wallcreeper of which 10 came from outside! Here lies the problem - it's very easy trying to change things from Brussels or Paris or London but these dictates will never be accepted where the birds or animals are dying...

Anyway, keep up the good work.

 

[Andy Adcock]

Not just birds

Dormice favoured by Italian mafia seized in drugs raid

Italian police search a cannabis farm and seize a stash of 235 frozen dormice - a mafia delicacy.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[jurek]

What I meant is not really raising awareness about conservation, because hunters who illegally shot birds don't care about this type of arguments by definition.

But many people, including hunters, are suspectible to fashions, and what is needed is to reach within the community of hunters and make them believe that hunting birds is not fashionable. It is much like campaigns of any product, say promoting a certain brand or design of hunting clothing. Using mentions on social media, influencers etc. I don't know much about it, but birders on Birdforum have so diverse real jobs, that somebody probably can describe it very well.

 

[dragnil]

This is just my opinion, but since the "old" Corpo Forestali" was taken over by the Carabinieri it seems to be much more active and aggressive in its pursuit of law breakers - long may that continue!
There is excellent co-operation with LIPU and, no doubt, other NGOs in the field and I'm sure the word is spreading.
Rosbif's comments are sound and worrying, from a part of the world I love, but we just have to keep as much pressure on these people as we can, and I know he does just that.

 

[Sangahyando]

Robins must have been popular on American tables in the 1800s. "The robins of the North have been driven South by the severity of the weather," reported the Pittsburgh Weekly Gazette on Feb. 8, 1868, "and the people of Pensacola are shooting and eating them.

Yes, but those were American Robins, which are twice as large as European ones (thus slightly less inefficient as a food source) and belong to a different family. A close relative of the American Robin, the Fieldfare, used to be eaten in Eastern Central Europe as well at that time, being abundant in the region. However those were different times, before meat was as easily available as it is today. Nowadays the hunting of small birds is not even remotely necessary to ensure a healthy diet for anyone in the regions discussed in this thread, and only endangers their population.

 

[KC Foggin]

This was a first for me! I cannot imagine anyone eating our songbirds. This thread has shocked the hell out of me.

 

[Ron13]

Congratulations, keep up the good work!

I wonder if it makes sense to use social media or whatever to make this practice unfashionable or frowned upon. My understanding is that people don't need to eat birds, it is just a fashion of sorts.

People don' t need to eat any non human animals and yet they keep on doing it. Same thing.

In my experience as a vegan activist social media doesn't help. People read something, see something and forget about it almost instantly. Same with documentaries and undercover footage. It makes an impact on only a few people.

 

[Ron13]

This was a first for me! I cannot imagine anyone eating our songbirds. This thread has shocked the hell out of me.

Why did you find this shocking? People eat many non human animals including all kinds of birds. What's the difference between a robin or a chicken? A pheasant or a duck? A wild or farmed duck? Goose? Why eat a pig and not a dog? What's the difference between a hunter and a poacher?

My wife and I went vegan for the non human animals in 2018. Never regretted it. Later on we became anti- speciesists and activists. The things I've seen done to non human animals raised for dairy, meat, pet trade or other things. That's shocking, believe me.

While we're at it: How about ornithologists collecting specimens? Does the end really justify the means? To satisfy our need to know? Do we even have the right to treat other species the way we do? Would we do it to a human animal?

 

[iraqbabbler]

In the south of Iraq, they trap and kill wild Greater Flamingos by the tens of thousands each year, and make stew out of them!

 

[Scott98]

While we're at it: How about ornithologists collecting specimens? Does the end really justify the means? To satisfy our need to know? Do we even have the right to treat other species the way we do? Would we do it to a human animal?

I'm glad to see another birder raise this issue. Here in Massachusetts, the Massachusetts Audubon society sets up bird nets on the federal wildlife refuge (Parker River - Plum Island) and makes money off having tourists net-trap, handle, and attach permanent metal bands to the leg of the birds.

There is zero scientific value here - only the injuring and traumatizing of hundreds of innocent living creatures. I've expressed my disgust to them many times, I'll never contribue another dollar to that organization.

 

[01101001]

I'm glad to see another birder raise this issue. Here in Massachusetts, the Massachusetts Audubon society sets up bird nets on the federal wildlife refuge (Parker River - Plum Island) and makes money off having tourists net-trap, handle, and attach permanent metal bands to the leg of the birds.

https://www.birdforum.net/threads/the-ethics-of-captivity.435571/

EDIT: for access tick 'Ruffled Feathers' in https://www.birdforum.net/account/preferences

 

[Andy Lakin]

I'm sure I read somewhere that in Malta one of the reasons that they shoot Honey Buzzards is part of a 'macho' tradition. Apparently it is a sign of manliness and it is a great embarrassment if you don't shoot at least one during the shooting season! As soon as anything is banned/ made illegal it just adds to the thrill for these muppets.

Obviously these traps are indiscriminate does anybody know if everything caught is eaten it would be even more ridiculous if they are just dumping any birds caught that they won't eat.

 

[dragnil]

Not just Malta, Andy, the main "justification" for the large-scale killing of Honey Buzzards crossing from Sicily to the mainland was the often expressed saying that if a man didn't kill a Honey Buzzard in the spring his wife would not be faithful - he would be a cuckold!!
It's so hard to believe that this was even half believed in any country, let alone one of culture and civilisation. Yes, I'm biased - I love Italy.