Bird trappings in the Sovereign Base Areas (SBA) fell by five per cent last year, its police said on Friday, adding that since 2016 the number has fallen by 97 per cent.

The police said they would continue its work by disrupting trapping sites and catching those aiming to profit from the illegal practice. 

“We will once again work very closely with Bird Life Cyprus and the Committee Against Bird Slaughter (Cabs) to combat the trapping of Ambelopoulia,” head of the anti-bird-trapping team Fanos Christodoulou said.

Adding that bird trapping was a serious crime, Christodoulou stressed that his team would tackle the practice “with everything we have at our disposal”, pointing to the team’s equipment ranging from drones and hidden cameras to night vision goggles and more.

“Before the birds begin migrating, trappers will clear large areas so they are able to erect mist nets, which will then catch the birds as they fly through,” he said.

He explained that in the weeks leading up to the mist netting period, his team would be locating potential trapping sites within the SBA and patrol them to disrupt the trappings.

In 2024, the SBA made nine arrests for bird trapping. At the beginning of record keeping in 2016, the number of arrests was as high as 47, and the previous year it was 13.

Christodoulou highlighted that the decrease in arrests was in no way a negative development, but rather the result of the anti-bird-trapping unit “doing a good job of eliminating the problem.

“Fewer trapping sites leads to fewer arrests, but the key point here is that for the trappers that remain, we are detecting them and they are being arrested and that will continue in the coming season.

“We will also have other areas under surveillance, so if trappers enter the area, we will be ready for them, and they will be arrested,” he added.

Illegal bird trapping with mist nets and limesticks is a widespread and serious problem in Cyprus. After catching the birds, trappers sell them to restaurants or private individuals for consumption, making the trapping a profitable business.

A 2016 report by BirdLife international listed Cyprus among the five worst countries regarding the scale of illegal bird killing around the Mediterranean with the practice mostly being carried out within the areas of Larnaca and Famagusta.

The migration period for Ambelopoulia runs between September and October and that is then followed by thrush migration between November and February.