Red-footed Falcon
Surfbirds News: RSPB Archives
Two poachers involved in the shocking shooting of 52 red-footed falcons on the British Sovereign Base Area at Akrotiri, Cyprus, on 5 October last year were this week fined a 'derisory' €1,250 each.
BirdLife Cyprus, the RSPB's partner on the island, has protested.
Under the relevant bird protection law, the British Sovereign Base Area (SBA) court could have imposed a fine of up to €17,000 or up to three years imprisonment, or both. The massacre was one of the most severe, from a conservation perspective, ever reported in Europe.
Red-footed Falcon © Nic Hallam, from the surfbirds galleries
BirdLife Cyprus added that the poaching situation in general – and the situation regarding illegal bird trapping in particular - sharply deteriorated on the Island during 2007, following several years of improvement, and called for urgent intervention from the EU.
After plea-bargaining before their court appearance, the two Limassol men accused of gunning down the threatened birds of prey admitted to shooting only four of the falcons, which they said they had mistaken for turtle doves. The shooting took place in a 'no hunting' area at Phasouri, within the Akrotiri Sovereign Base Area.
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