Poaching: 25 million migratory birds die every year

Around the Mediterranean, poachers kill approximately 25 million migratory birds every year.

A new report by BirdLife International now reveals that large numbers of birds are also being shot or trapped in Central and Northern Europe and in the Caucasus region: an estimated 400’000 to 2.1 million birds fall victim to poachers in these countries.

On Tuesday, BirdLife International published its 18-page report “The Killing 2.0”. For the first time, this report reveals how many birds are illegally shot or trapped per year in Central and Northern Europe and in the Caucasus region. In 2015, BirdLife International had already quantified the scale of poaching around the Mediterranean with its internationally acclaimed study “The Killing”.

While around 25 million birds are still illegally killed every year in the Mediterranean region, the figure for Central and Northern Europe and the Caucasus combined stands at approximately 400’000 to 2.1 million birds. This shockingly high number is surprising given that most of the countries involved have signed the Bern Convention and are also members of the EU, where migratory birds are protected under the Habitats Directive.

The six poaching hotspots

A closer analysis of the figures from Central and Northern Europe and the Caucasus reveals that the "hotspots" of poaching are found in the following countries (listed alphabetically): Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Germany, Georgia, and the Netherlands. Azerbaijan is particularly dangerous for migratory birds: between 160,000 and 900,000 waterfowl alone are killed there by poaching every year. But in Germany too, several hundred thousand birds are poached annually.

In Central Europe and the Caucasus, poaching is practiced primarily as a “sport.” In Northern Europe, by contrast, birds are killed illegally because they are partly regarded as pests. Not included in these figures are the millions of legal kills of huntable species such as corvids, ducks, gamebirds, or (in some countries) certain songbird species.

House sparrow and chaffinch most affected

Poaching remains particularly severe around the Mediterranean, where the hotspots continue to be found in Egypt, Italy, Syria, and Lebanon. In total, around the Mediterranean, in Europe (excluding Russia), and in the Caucasus, an average of 25 million birds are killed by poaching each year — with estimates ranging from 12 to 38 million. The species most affected in terms of numbers are: the house sparrow (4.7 million), chaffinch (2.9 million), Eurasian blackcap (1.8 million), and common quail (1.7 million). Poaching is particularly problematic for birds of prey, which often raise only one young per year. For such long-lived species, every individual loss weighs far more heavily on the population than it does for short-lived species with many offspring. This is where Switzerland also enters the picture: while poaching affects a relatively small number of birds here, the poisoning of rare peregrine falcons makes it particularly severe.

A united fight

But there is hope: More and more countries and institutions are taking action against illegal hunting. After decades of campaigning by BirdLife partners and other conservation organizations, most Mediterranean countries agreed on a joint approach in 2013 under the Bern Convention. With the involvement of BirdLife International, they adopted the so-called «Tunis Action Plan», which provides for numerous measures to protect birds by 2020. The Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) established a task force, and the EU developed a road map and finances related measures.

In most countries, BirdLife partners are also active in the fight against poaching. They conduct awareness campaigns, lobby for better laws, and report poachers to the authorities. In some countries they are supported by the Committee Against Bird Slaughter, which in some cases organizes camps together with BirdLife and removes nets and traps. BirdLife Switzerland is very active in working to stop the poisoning of birds of prey in Switzerland.

For Werner Müller, Executive Director of BirdLife Switzerland, one thing is clear: “Across Europe, bird populations are declining dramatically. Poaching is one of the many reasons for this decline and must therefore be combated by all available means — including in Switzerland.”