Three owls freed from illegal traps near Zygi as officers seize 150 limesticks

Zygi, Cyprus. Three owls caught in illegal traps near Zygi have been freed and released, the Committee against Bird Slaughter (CABS) said on Saturday. Officers seized 150 limesticks at trapping sites, and one offender was fined €2,200.

Owls rescued from nets and limesticks

CABS teams found two Cyprus Scops Owls, a species found only on the island, tangled in mist nets. Near Zygi, they also found a Barn Owl stuck by its wing to glue-coated limesticks.

The group said the Barn Owl was a juvenile hatched this spring and was probably searching for its first territory. All three birds were cleaned, checked for injuries and released.

Game and Fauna Service officers attended the sites.

Trapping methods catch unintended species

CABS said the case demonstrated the “indiscriminate nature” of trapping, as the methods catch species the trappers are not interested in.

Mist nets and limesticks are used to catch birds for ambelopoulia, a controversial delicacy of pickled or fried songbirds, mainly blackcaps.

Illegal trapping estimates and enforcement

BirdLife Cyprus estimates that 726,000 migrating songbirds were illegally trapped last autumn. That figure is well below the more than two million birds killed annually a decade ago, but conservation groups say restaurant demand drives the trade.

Mist-net trapping fell by 47 per cent last year following police raids on three organised trapping sites in Larnaca, which resulted in fines totalling more than €157,000.