19.08.2025

Since January, our reporting centre for raptor persecution and wildlife crime (EDGAR) has registered 34 cases. These include 10 shootings, 6 trapping or snaring incidents, 11 confirmed cases of poisoning and 7 other methods of persecution. 

A total of 47 birds are affected, including buzzards, red kites, hawks and kestrels. Another red kite suspected of having been poisoned was reported to us last week in (Upper Bavaria). A CABS member subsequently recovered the bird and took it to the Bavarian State Office for Health and Food Safety in Oberschleißheim for examination.

Find out more about our work against raptor persecution in Germany here. 

11.08.2025

After 382 days of intensive treatment at the 'Bergische Greifvogelhilfe' wild bird sanctuary, a Montagu's harrier has been successfully released back into the wild in the Zülpicher Börde region. The female bird was caught last year in a combine harvester during the harvest when she was still a young bird and suffered severe damage to her plumage. It was only saved thanks to the farmer who discovered the injured bird and immediately notified us. Thanks to the professional care and nutrition at the station, the unlucky bird has now ‘moulted’ and has a complete set of new feathers again, just in time for the start of the migration season. 

Over the weekend, the young harrier was released into the wild by station manager Dirk Sindhu and employees of the committee, the Düren Biological Station and the farmer. The release was also attended by NRW Environment Minister Oliver Krischer.

31.07.2025

The court in Valletta today announced its verdict in the case against a poacher who was caught by a committee team in September 2022 with a huge illegal collection of protected birds. 

Following our report, the police conducted a search of his hunting grounds in Għaxaq and found a net trap and aviaries containing a total of 137 protected birds. These included 16 common sandpipers, 3 black-winged stilts and other wading birds. At noon today, the judge sentenced the man to one year's imprisonment, suspended, and a fine of 1,000 euros. The birds were released into a nature reserve a few days after the raid. The defendant is a prominent repeat offender who has already served time in prison for illegally shooting mute swans in January 2002. 

Links to our press release and a video on the case here.

15.07.2025

In our harrier project, there is nothing more rewarding than seeing the first young birds fly: last weekend, the first nine young marsh harriers and Montagu's harriers have left their nests for the first time in the nest protection zones we have created in the Börde region between Cologne and Aachen. We are currently looking after six pairs that have built their nests in barley or wheat fields. Until the young birds are fully fledged and leave their nests, we regularly check to make sure everything is okay. A big thank you goes to the participating farmers, the Chamber of Agriculture, the biological stations and the lower nature conservation authorities for their cooperation! This year, the German Postcode Lottery is also supporting the campaign.

Find about more about the project here. 

11.07.2025

The world’s largest annual celebration of birds, generating huge support for bird conservation, is taking place at Rutland Water, UK from 11th – 13th July 2025. Global Birdfair will host around 250 exhibitors across various sectors including conservation organisations. As ever, several CABS members are busy setting up our stand to showcase our migratory bird protection work in the poaching hotspots of the Mediterranean. To mark the occasion, we’re also celebrating our 50th anniversary this year and keen to highlight some of our successes and achievements over the last half century. Come and meet us at our lovely stand sponsored by Insite Graphics and learn more about how you can get involved in supporting and enabling migratory bird protection in Robin Marquee Stand R72.

26.06.2025

The grain harvest is now in full swing in the Rhineland in Germany and many barley fields have already been threshed. The nests of Marsh harriers and Montagu's harriers, which breed on the ground, are now in danger, as the young birds have not yet fledged and often end up unseen in the harvester. We have mapped the nests in the region between Aachen and Cologne and marked them in collaboration with the farmers. They now leave a 25 x 25 metre square around the nest during harvesting, where the harriers can raise their chicks. For further protection, we set up an electric fence at the first nest yesterday. Other nests are located in wheat fields that have not yet been harvested or in gravel pits, where the young birds will probably be able to fledge without help.

11.06.2025

The Italian government is planning a significant softening of nature conservation law. Agriculture Minister Francesco Lollobrigida, a passionate hunter, has presented comprehensive changes to the hunting legislation. The right-wing government wants to authorise the trapping of wild birds with nets in order to use them as live decoys. Currently, bird trapping is completely prohibited, and the use of decoys is only permitted for hunting seven species. In future, decoys will be allowed to be used to hunt all 47 huntable bird species. Our Italian members are joining forces with nature conservation organisations across Italy to prevent the proposed changes. Today, we have published a video in which critical voices from the nature conservation community have their say and call on Parliament to vote against the plans.

25.05.2025

The last migratory birds have now arrived here, meaning that the bird migration in Europe has come to an end. From mid-February to mid-May, over 70 nature lovers worked with us to secure the dangerous paths of the animals. At the bird protection camps organised by the Committee Against Bird Slaughter (CABS) in France, Italy, Greece, Malta, Cyprus and Lebanon, we caught 82 poachers, while the police and hunting authorities were able to recover 568 traps (mainly limesticks), 158 nets, 6 hunting weapons, 240 rounds of ammunition and 33 electronic decoys on the basis of our information. 

The spring operations were financed exclusively by donations - thank you very much for your support!

21.04.2025

When the first newspaper reports about the unbelievable extent of migratory bird hunting in Italy appeared in the mid-1970s, a small group of bird conservationists in Berlin decided to take action. On 1 March 1975, they founded the Committee Against Bird Slaughter. Today, half a century later, we are a Europe-wide organisation and a leader in the fight against bird-trapping and illegal hunting. From Spain in the west to Lebanon in the east, we now safeguard the migration routes and resting places of our migratory birds. 

Read more about the origins of our organisation and its successes and challenges here.