Hunting The Hunters: Catching The Cruel Gangs Behind A Cypriot Delicacy

Police inside the Sovereign Bases in Cyprus have been displaying some of the thousands of seizures they’ve made from criminal bird trappers.

Each year millions of migratory birds are illegally caught and sold on the black market.

A recent report by conservation groups including the RSPB urged the British authorities to do more to tackle the problem. 

Conservation groups estimate more than 2 million migratory birds were illegally killed in Cyprus last year - nearly 900,000 of them inside the SBA’s. 

Once slaughtered the birds are sold on the black market to restaurants to be served as a local delicacy called Ambelapoulia. 

Last year we followed a team of SBA police officers as they raided a known trapping site at night. 

The area around the British base at Dhekelia is a trapping hotspot. 

In the past 12 months, they’ve seized more than a thousand of these fine mist nets and released more than three thousand birds.

They’ve also arrested and prosecuted 78 illegal hunters. 

The illegal trade’s worth an estimated 15 million euros a year. 

The police say they’ll hunt the trappers for as long as the trade continues.