Committee Against Bird Slaughter (CABS) - our conservation cause for July.
David Tipling is in charge of our competition category for July which has the theme of MONOCHROME. As you know, each month we are supporting a different conservation cause and will donate £0.20 for every image that is entered into the competition during that month. David is supporting the Committee Against Bird Slaughter (CABS) and all money raised will go towards their bird camp in Cyprus. Here’s what David has to say about why he’s supporting this organisation - we think David’s shocking images speak for themselves:
Above: Millions of songbirds are needlessly and illegally slaughtered every year in Europe. ©David Tipling
Above: Lime sticks are commonly used to trap birds - they just hang there with no means of escape, and eventually die and are collected by their trappers. ©David Tipling.
On a dark night in September 2011 I joined a team from BirdLife Cyprus and Police from the British Sovereign Base and headed out on to a network of tracks. After we had tucked the vehicles away behind some trees we made our way on foot towards an Olive grove, even from a quarter of a mile away a tape lure booming out the song of a Blackcap was drowning out the music from clubs in Asia Napa below. Once in the cover of the grove we settled down and waited, in the dawn light a long mist nest became visible dripping with birds. We never caught the trappers they failed to materialise but that morning we saved many birds that were destined to be killed and sold to restaurateurs illegally. Illegal trapping and hunting across the Mediterranean basin has been with us for decades and, while there have been some notable conservation success stories, the tale is still too familiar; millions of our migrants are being slaughtered and a lack of political will across Europe is allowing this slaughter to go largely unchecked. BirdLife International estimate that in excess of 25 million migratory birds are killed or trapped in Europe annually with around 1 million being slaughtered or trapped in Cyprus.
One organisation is at the forefront of the fight against illegal hunting, the Campaign Against Bird Slaughter known as CABS. They are activists on the front line identifying and closing down poaching sites, disrupting hunters and helping to bring legal prosecutions to those who can be convicted. CABS operate bird protection camps at various Mediterranean hotspots including Malta, Cyprus, in Italy and the Lebanon. Despite the Covid pandemic in 2020 in Northern Italy, Cyprus and Malta more than 120 poachers were caught saving thousands of migratory birds. I have witnessed Olive groves in Cyprus full of birds dying stuck to lime sticks, I’ve watched Marsh Harriers making landfall on Malta after migrating across the sea only to be shot out of the sky, and I’ve seen Redstarts hanging from spring traps in Italy - senseless killing that is putting further stress on our migrant bird populations on top of all the other ecological pressures they currently face. Hence why I have chosen CABS and specifically the work they do on Cyprus to benefit from your entry to the WildArt Photographer of the Year. Thank you.
To learn more about CABS and their work click here (insert link https://www.komitee.de/en/about-us/)
Above: No caption necessary……… ©David Tipling