Tip-offs from the Committee Against Bird Slaughter (CABS) led directly to the conviction of 55 bird poachers in Cyprus last autumn, the organisation said. Seized equipment included 1,621 limesticks, 139 mist-nets and 89 electronic bird callers, while 1,286 live birds entangled in nets or glued to limesticks were freed. In recent weeks, joint actions with authorities have caught six poachers red-handed, leading to the immediate confiscation of firearms and illegal trapping gear.
CABS’s field monitoring remains one of the primary drivers of wildlife-crime enforcement on the island, CABS president Karl-Heinz Kreutzer said, pointing to joint operations between game wardens, police and NGOs.
The figures come as Cyprus’s parliamentary Environment Committee prepares for a tense Wednesday session over an agenda item targeting environmental activist groups.
How the item reached parliament
ELAM MPs first filed a version of the item on 23 June, under a title requesting an “ex officio examination of the uncontrolled action of so-called activists.” Every other party objected to the title and wording at the time, calling it demeaning and a form of targeting.
During discussions to register the item last Wednesday, AKEL proposed a neutral compromise title, “The action of activist organisations,” but the proposal failed to secure a majority. ELAM, DISY and DIKO then backed registering the item under a revised title examining “the effects of the action of specific activist organisations and activists active in the environmental sector.” AKEL and ALMA voted against it. Direct Democracy Cyprus did not take a position.
CABS warns of a ‘trap’
CABS has urged MPs to reject the item. “Joint operations between game wardens, police, and NGOs have been the backbone of successful anti-poaching efforts in Cyprus for years,” Kreutzer said. “The demand to limit this successful cooperation is a transparent trap designed to blindside law enforcement and clear the fields for wildlife offenders.”
CABS is calling on parliament to use Wednesday’s session to formalise and scale up institutional support for joint anti-poaching operations, ensuring law enforcement retains the field intelligence needed to protect Cyprus’s natural heritage. “Instead of weakening enforcement, parliament must boost up enforcement and actively support closer institutional ties between NGOs and the police to safeguard our shared natural heritage,” Kreutzer added.
Other groups object
CABS is not the only group to have objected. The Animal Party Cyprus has called for a peaceful protest outside the House of Representatives on Wednesday at 10am. The ALMA Movement, which voted against registering the item, has separately criticised its wording, saying it appears to prejudge the direction of the debate.
