Cyprus issues first-ever fines for poisoning wild birds

NICOSIA: Cypriot authorities have for the first time issued fines for the killing of rare wild birds using poison baits, conservationists on the Mediterranean island said on Monday.

Fines totalling 21,000 euros (almost $23,000) were last week ordered for an individual after three birds of prey were found dead at a rural property in the southern Limassol district, the group BirdLife Cyprus said.

The punishment “represents a big step forward that will hopefully have a strong deterrent effect on similar illegal actions”, BirdLife´s project coordinator Melpo Apostolidou said in a statement.

The offences occurred in December 2021 when two rare Bonelli´s eagles and one long-legged buzzard were found dead near Dierona village after a GPS transmitter fitted to one of the eagles led authorities to the discovery.