Trapping & Shooting
Internationally, birds of prey are both shot and trapped in a variety of countries and for a variety of reasons. This might sound like an odd statement to make almost like it is acceptable and it is something that Raptor Aid does not condone and wants to bring to an end but cultures and social order often dictate that people will do things that here in the UK we see as barbaric and illegal. The two pictures on this page tell of two different scenarios and why we must work with the wider communities to educate and engage but also on a much larger scale with political figures and nature policies.
The first picture above shows a Hobby which has sadly been shot in Malta by a Maltese hunter. The Hobby is a migratory species and like so many other species will travel over Malta to reach their wintering grounds, sadly though they are met by hunters who will shoot anything above them regardless of the law. Despite groups like Birdlife International lobbying and monitoring the annual slaughter of thousands of birds the Maltese government are struggling to address the situation and so the killing continues. This sort of killing is for pleasure and needs to be stopped.
The next picture shows what happens when humans who are trying to survive each day take advantage of an opportunity. The make shift cage in the image shows a large number of Amur falcons which have been trapped and harvested for food as they came into roost. Amur falcons travel huge distances in numbers well into the Thousands during migration and when the villagers of Nagaland, India saw these large flocks coming into roost they decided to take advantage by catching the birds to eat and sell. This again was illegal and rightly shocked conservationists around the world creating a response from the Government in Nagaland to draw a halt to the harvest and killing of already thousands of Amur falcons. Action groups were created and locals were educated and within one year and the following Autumn migration no falcons were caught or killed. This just goes to show what swift action and education can do, if we support and educate the locals with the backing of the authorities, changes can be made.
