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Pauline Read on Cypriots eat Robins and Song Thrushes at Christmas time
Robin
When I first stumbled upon a bird trapper whilst walking my dog, at first I wasn’t sure what was going on. It wasn’t until a conversation later that I realised that he’d been out to catch songbirds, including our favourite Christmas bird the robin. His furtiveness should have told me that he was up to something criminal plus the fact I never saw him again. Apparently these criminals use pieces of wood coated with glue that often rip feathers from the birds as they struggle to escape. The robins, song thrushes and other birds are then sold to restaurants and turned into a Cypriot delicacy known as ambelopoulia. This traditional dish came about centuries ago as a result of a shortage of traditional meat.
It is estimated that 700,000 birds a year are trapped and mostly through large scale operations which involve planting acacia forests to attract the birds and then either trapping them in mesh nets or on limesticks coated with glue. Most of these activities take place in the south, although I personally have seen evidence of these practices on a smaller scale in the north. If you do come across these criminals, at the very least disrupt the activity but if you are as incensed as I now am, please call the local police.
Source:
[1] Birdwatch
More than one million songbirds, including Britain’s favourite Christmas bird the robin, are being killed and eaten every year in Cyprus, conservationists have warned.
“Apparently these criminals”. “This traditional dish came about centuries ago”. Just a couple of quotes from the author of this piece. The question I have, purely from a self ignorance prospective, is it illegal? If so then you must report it. However I would never advocate the general public too, “at the very least disrupt the activity”.
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Natalie, I’m afraid this particular piece of yours suffers a little from emotive prose. I don’t like the idea of trapping and killing these tiny birds either, for at the least it would seem to require a good half dozen or so to make any kind of a meal.
But if it’s a traditional dish, wouldn’t that mean it’s a legal practice? Calling the police wouldn’t help unless it has become illegal.
Morally, I would like to see the practice halted too, because it doesn’t seem necessary to kill such small birds for the table, and I can’t see there’s a lot of sport in hunting them either. The fact that the robin is your favourite Xmas bird is irrelevant.
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Why should they be stopped? just because you do not like hunting?
If this is a traditional dish and hunting the birds is legal who are we to tell them they must not do it?
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If flies, runs or crawls these people feel compelled to either to shoot it, run it over or be cruel to it. If they were real hunters they would be in Helmond Province where the real action is instead of crushing insects. I have never visted a fertile country with less resident wildlife, sadly their childen will reap what the sow.
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Mike, because it’s illegal in Cyprus, as it said in the article.
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I would like to make a few comments.
To begin with hunting these birds is illegal. This has not always been the case but when we joined EU we were forced to make it illegal.
The traditional ways of hunting “ampelopoulia” (which means vine-birds in Greek) are the wooden sticks but most importantly the nets (which look like fishing nets secured on polls just like volleyball or badminton nets).
I have certainly tried eating them but I did not like them as they are surprisingly full of fat and taste bitter
The rumor says that the police turns the blind way to anyone that does it small scale, in other words they will not arrest someone that puts a few wooden sticks every now and then to catch a few birds to eat themselves. On the other hand nets, organized groups of people using 1,000s of sticks, purpose made plantations, selling them to restaurants and 700,000 trapped birds a year are things of the past.
I believe that banning “eating” them is wrong and hypocritical for as long as eating chicken, pork, beef etc is not banned. Their small size is not a valid argument either as prawns are small, and so are oysters and muscles.
On the other hand I strongly agree that hunting in Cyprus needs to be controlled and regulated in a different way because otherwise there will be nothing left in the wild.
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Ian,
I would like to say something about hunting in Cyprus because you mentioned “real action” obviously meaning a place with many big birds and animals.
I used to be a hunter but stopped about 15 years ago because of a bad experience. Despite that I believe that it is quite an interesting and satisfying sport (not for all of course but for many it is) which for Cypriots is in fact a whole “lifestyle”, not just a sport. Countryside people in the UK will tell you the same about fox hunting even though it is now banned.
For us hunting is not (just) about the killing. Take for example hunting hares. Months before the hunting season a real hunter will spend his free time training his dogs. Weeks before the hunting season he will spend his weekends with his dogs on the mountains in order to locate good hunting spots. He will get a group of people together, discuss and set up a hunting plan. On the hunting day they will wake up 2.00-3.00am and head for the mountains. On the way they will stop at one of the many restaurants that open specifically for hunters and will have a soup and a coffee (if they are lucky to get a table). They will reach the spot while it is still dark and with the first light they will start walking on the mountains. Many hours after they will stop to eat/drink and then head back home. On the way they will stop for another coffee, discuss the day with other hunters….etc.
I will end my post with my last hunting experience. It was in fact in the UK, believe it or not. I was on my last university year when the father of a rich friend came and took us hunting in a “posh” farm. They gave us guns, we stood in the woods and they brought pheasants in cages. They released, we shot – just like clay pigeons. That was not hunting, that was pure killing which actually cost my friend’s father a few thousands of pounds for the three of us.
What I am trying to say is that in Cyprus it is not the killing as such but it is the actual lifestyle, the whole ritual and the limited pray that make it interesting. Consequently, any Cypriot hunter would agree that the “real action” is indeed here.
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Why would the fact of Cyprus joining the EU mean that Cypriots would have to see their traditional practice of eating songbirds made illegal?
Could someone please explain that fact and history to me?
This seems to be a crucial and missing piece of information to better understanding what is going on there.
To me this smells like yet another completely unrequired “campaigns” designed to achieve nothing else than rattle a few coins out of the gullible but perhaps I’m mistaken.
Personally, I see nothing wrong with people harvesting locally available species for the pot or the restaurant as long as it’s done sustainably.
Strangely, the Times admits in another article that domestic pet cats kill up to 50 million birds a year in the UK while Cypriots only eat a mere 1 million birds a year.
I smell a little cultural prejudice being stirred up for fun and profit here.
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Hi Kyri,
Thank you for that explanation, you can always be relied upon for a good intelligent response.
My own view is that the only good thing about people who shoot defenceless creatures with guns is that they often and shoot themeselves or fellow hunters because they have been drinking or don’t real know how to handle a weapon. I thought it must be the booze but it might be all this Nescafe you mention. Sadly it is mostly their own dogs that they shoot, but when they shoot each other because they are rubbish hunters that always cheers me up.
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Ice,
Personally I would rather see more people caring about fellow humans and I often find animal activists to be hypocritical. My wife, for example, showed no interest to watch the news when Iraq was bombed but when I lied to her that there was going to be a piece about cats in Bagdad trapped in the ruins of bombed buildings she did !
I also agree with what you said about the cultural prejudice being stirred up for fun and profit (not necessarily monetary).
On the other hand this does not mean that we have to get rid of everything alive in Cyprus. Ancient Greeks used to say “pan metron ariston” which basically means that everything should be done and enjoyed in moderation. We tend to forget this nowadays.
Traditional practices yes, traditional dishes yes but do it in moderation.
Last but not least I would like to say that I disagree with your argument about UK cats. Something wrong in one place does not justify doing the wrong thing in another. The UK might be able to afford loosing 50 million birds a year, Cyprus doesn’t. I live here most of my life and I see a massive difference. Even if you speak to local hunters they will tell you that they used to catch so many birds, so mane hares…..they “used to”, not any more!
I therefore agree that something needs to be done right now about it even if there is some hypocrisy and prejudice in the arguments in favor.
Ian,
How do you feel about people who kill millions of defenseless creatures with specially designed apparatus on a daily basis so that people like me and you can eat bacon for breakfast, a T-Bone steak for lunch and a chicken breast for dinner?
Most importantly how do you feel about people like me and you who are in fact the masterminds of this mass murder?
The accidents you refer to have nothing to do with booze or rubbish hunters but it has to do with too many hunters in a very small area. I guess it is nature trying to maintain the equilibrium by eliminating the excess hunters : )
I do understand why you are upset but being bitter, vengeful and sarcastic does not help. Why don’t you just spend some time to educate people and encourage them to change their attitude towards animals? I am talking from personal experience here. At home we sleep with a cat in the bed between us, more than half of our friends now have pets, even my mother feeds the cats outside her home (instead of poisoning them !!). One person was enough for this change. Why don’t you do the same?
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Hi Kyri,
I agree and I will.
But it will still make my day whenever a hunter of small creatures shoots himself in the foot.
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Ian,
I certainly hope that more things make your day otherwise you won’t have many good ones
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No one has the right to slaughter birds that cross many countries through migration. If people want to kill off their indigenous species then that is their loss and their stupidity. But these migrating birds belong to everyone they fly over and I am incensed. Turtle Doves, who fly thousands of miles to breed in the UK, are on the decline through senseless slaughter called ‘sport’. We only had one pair in our garden this year and I worry each spring until I hear their gurgling call. If anyone wants an executioner – give me a ring.
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