The million number quite often crops up in conversations at the RSPB. We’re very proud and grateful that we have over a million members, for example. It’s generally a good number – the “magic million”. Over the next few weeks I’ll be mentioning it quite often, almost always in a good way.
But I’m going to start my million theme with a negative example – a murderous million, if you like.
Does it shock you to learn, as I just have, that over one million birds have been illegally trapped and killed already this autumn in Cyprus? Yes, you read that correctly: One million birds this autumn. One million since the 1st September. That’s the equivalent of around 20,000 every day.
Some of you have probably spent a holiday or two in Cyprus. And you were probably unaware that this wholesale slaughter was going on with a short distance of tourist hotspots like Ayia Napa.
We’re not talking pheasants here; we’re talking about birds such as whitethroats and blackcaps. And they are killed to supply restaurants with a local delicacy called ambelopoulia. That’s pickled songbird to you and me. If your stomach can stand it, you can read more in this article by the American author, Jonathan Franzen.
The birds are trapped using mist nets and limesticks and autumn is peak trapping season as birds migrate between Europe and Africa. They are our summer birds, not exotic species rarely seen on UK shores. They include birds as familiar as the European robin. And they die a horrible death, merely to end up pickled on someone’s plate.
It's a fact of life that migrants need three things: healthy habitats to successfully breed, a safe passage to their wintering grounds and then a decent home to while away winter. If any of these three elements is affected, the population of migrants is threatened. If more than a million of them are already en route to a glass jar in someone’s kitchen....well....you don’t need me to spell out the consequences.
What’s worse is that it happens in the Sovereign Base Areas, especially Dhekelia. These areas are administered by the UK Government. The protection of wildlife in these areas is a UK Government responsibility.
The slaughter is illegal, under European, Cypriot and Sovereign Base Area law. By implication, if it is illegal and the law continues to be flouted on such a vast, almost unimaginable scale, then more needs to be done to enforce that law.
Our partners, Birdlife Cyprus, are calling for decisive action against the restaurants that serve this revolting atrocity of a dish, as well as targeted enforcement against big, organised trapping operations and tougher sentences for convicted trappers.
And what can you do to help? You can join the 11,000 people who have already signed the Birdlife Cyprus petition.
Let’s hope that the authorities finally do something to stop this. This murderous million is a very miserable milestone indeed.