Martin Hellicar from Birdlife Cyprus just sent me the final trapping report for Cyprus 2009. It’s absolutely horrible. I know that BirdLife Cyprus toes the line in their criticism of the Cyprus and British governments, because they have to work with those governments, but I’m free to be a little bit more blunt in my criticism…
And from my point of view, I find it hard to read the report’s conclusions without concluding myself that the Cypriot and British governments knowingly overlook this trapping. Despite the fact that it (the trapping and sale of ambelopoulia) is illegal, and despite the fact that it is the responsibility of hired government officials to enforce these laws. I.e., the government is willfully not fulfilling their responsibilities to their own laws. And I call that corruption.
A major part of the problem (for the report) is that the British government does not release their enforcement records easily – perhaps they’re trying to hide the fact that penalties are almost non-existent. The greatest fine imposed by the British SBA courts for 2009 for instance was €735 – barely more than one day’s profit from trapping for a limesticker, and less for a mist-netter. The Brits need to do more.
But at least the British government releases its enforcement records at all. The Cypriot government doesn’t. I can’t imagine what the reason could be. But we do know that one man caught with hundreds of killed songbirds in his refrigerator in September of 2009 was arrested when someone reported him. The arrest and fine (if there was one) was apparently enough to get him to skip making limesticks for one whole day. While the Brits need to do more, the Cypriots need to stop doing nothing.
Absolutely none of these enforcement activities tackle the source of the problem – the demand for ambelopoulia at restaurants. Restaurants know that they can get away with it too, despite it being illegal. Despite the fact that BirdLife Cyprus knows pretty damn well which restaurants are serving this illegal snack.
And the ‘Friends of the Limestick’ is a particularly “funny” group. In any other country in the world could you imagine a group proud of its association with crime? Only in Cyprus perhaps.
Here are the conclusions from the report:
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