Below is an announcement from the Cyprus Voice for Animals Union of Animal Welfare Associations, by Louise Guillot Mar 17, 2021. Those of who know and love Cyprus, also know that this illegal practise continues in many places, especially near the occupied territories – hence the need to keep the issue in the public domain.
EU top court bans hunting birds using glue traps
Gluing birds to branches to trap other birds is a breach of EU law, the Court of Justice
of the EU ruled today.
Answering a question from the French Council of State — the country’s highest
administrative court — on whether a national derogation allowing gluing birds as
decoys to attract and trap wild birds is compatible with the EU Birds Directive, the
court said it’s not.
The court explained that this hunting method isn’t selective enough and poses a risk of
inadvertently catching other species. This is “a method of capture leading to by-catch
where that by-catch, even in small quantities and for a limited period, is likely to cause
harm other than negligible harm to the non-target species captured,” it said.
The court added that “despite being cleaned, the birds captured sustain irreparable
harm, since limes are capable, by their very nature, of damaging the feathers of any
bird captured,” and pointed out that better solutions “appear to exist.”
The case was brought in 2019 by One Voice and the League for the Protection of Birds
against the French state, arguing glue hunting was “cruel” and harmful to biodiversity.
The practice has been banned in the rest of the EU since 1979, and the court said
France couldn’t justify its derogation on the fact it’s a centuries-old tradition. “The
preservation of traditional activities cannot … constitute an autonomous derogation
from the system of protection established by [the Birds] directive.”
The European Commission opened an infringement procedure against France last
summer over the practice.
CYPRUS VOICE FOR ANIMALS
March 17, 2021