EU: More Than 53 Million Wild Birds Shot

Every year in the European Union, more than 53 million wild birds are legally shot by hobby hunters, including numerous species that are critically endangered in Germany.

This is the finding of a study* presented by the Committee Against Bird Slaughter and the German Council for Bird Protection, which analysed official hunting statistics from a total of 24 EU member states as well as Switzerland and Norway.

Migratory Birds Shot Down on Their Way to Winter Quarters

The statistics come predominantly from the 2014/15 hunting season and together indicate a total of at least 53 million birds shot per year. In addition, an unknown number of animals are killed each year in countries where no usable data is available (Greece, the Netherlands, Ireland, and Great Britain) and outside the study area in the Mediterranean region or in Africa.

The authors emphasise that a large proportion of the birds killed are migratory species that are acutely endangered or threatened with extinction in some member states. For example, lapwings, snipe, turtle doves, and skylarks — all strictly protected in Germany — are shot in their hundreds of thousands in France and southern Europe during their autumn migration to winter quarters. German and British hobby hunters, in turn, kill many thousands of woodcock and Arctic geese from Scandinavia and Eastern Europe every year.

100 Million Turtle Doves Killed in 33 Years

Specifically, the study lists annual kill figures of, for example, 4’995’083 song thrushes (huntable in 8 EU countries in total), 1’607’964 quails (huntable in 10 EU countries), 1’455’208 turtle doves (huntable in 6 EU countries), 898’958 skylarks (huntable in 6 EU countries), 205’577 common snipes (huntable in 16 EU countries), and 107’802 lapwings (huntable in 5 EU countries). The long-term effect of such high offtake levels is assessed by the authors as devastating. Between 1980 and 2013, at least 100 million turtle doves were legally killed by hobby hunters in the EU. During the same period, the European turtle dove population declined by 78%. In Germany, the species is on the Red List and is classified as “seriously endangered.”

EU-wide hunting bans for endangered species demanded

“The results are alarming and further evidence that hobby hunting of certain species jeopardizes or even completely undermines conservation efforts in other countries,” said Heinz Schwarze, chairman of the Committee. The Committee Against Bird Slaughter and the German Council for Bird Protection DRV are therefore calling on the EU Commission to finally enforce EU-wide hunting bans for endangered species. More on Hunting and Biodiversity and on Animal Rights.

*The title of the study is «Hirschfeld, A. & G. Attard (2017): Bird hunting in Europe – analysis of kill figures and the impact of hunting on the conservation of threatened species», published in the journal «Berichte zum Vogelschutz», issue 53/52, pages 15–42.