Stop the slaughter of songbirds on British soil

Reinstate the 24-Hour Anti-Trapping Unit to Protect Europe’s Songbirds!

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Subject

Letter

To the Head of Environment Department, SBA Administration
SBA Police Divisional Commander (Eastern SBA) / Chief Constable and SBA Police

Across the Mediterranean, hundreds of thousands of small migratory birds are trapped, tortured, and killed every year. One of the worst killing grounds lies on British-controlled land in Cyprus.

In the Eastern Sovereign Base Area (ESBA), ruthless wildlife criminals operate under cover of darkness, setting up mist nets and lime sticks to catch songbirds such as robins, thrushes, blackcaps, and other warblers, the same birds that fill our gardens across Europe. Up to 500,000 birds are slaughtered annually for Ambelopoulia, a dish banned across Europe since 1974.

The ESBA remains a haven for organised wildlife crime. Patrols routinely begin after trappers have gone, leaving volunteers from the Committee Against Bird Slaughter (CABS) to risk violence and intimidation while freeing trapped birds and collecting evidence for prosecutions, alone, in the dark, on British soil.

We therefore urge you to understand and act upon the following:

Our asks:

1. Reinstate a permanent 24-hour anti-trapping unit
Re-establish and fund a dedicated, full-time enforcement unit in the ESBA. An around-the-clock presence is essential to deter trappers and dismantle criminal networks.

2. Align patrols with trapping hours
Night patrols must operate between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m., the known hours of activity. Later-morning patrols are ineffective and allow trappers to act with impunity.

3. Protect and support CABS volunteers
Provide official protection and operational coordination for CABS and other anti-poaching volunteers, who currently face threats, harassment, and violence while carrying out lawful conservation work on British territory.

4. Ensure full transparency
Publish enforcement data, including numbers of patrols, traps destroyed, arrests, and prosecutions. Transparency builds trust and exposes failure.

5. Collaborate with conservation organisations
Work directly with CABS and other NGOs to share intelligence, strengthen enforcement, and safeguard both wildlife and those protecting it.

6. Fulfil Britain’s legal and moral obligations
Uphold international conservation law and Britain’s environmental commitments. Wildlife protection is not optional—it is a duty of the UK Government.

No more silence. No more inaction.
Britain cannot call itself a leader in conservation while turning a blind eye to industrial-scale slaughter and organised wildlife crime on its own land. The blood of Europe’s songbirds stains British soil.

We ask that you act now to restore effective enforcement, protect those on the front line, and prove that the British Government will no longer tolerate cruelty under its watch.

Thank you for your attention to this urgent matter. We look forward to a prompt response and meaningful action to protect Europe’s songbirds.

Yours faithfully,

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Reinstate the 24-Hour Anti-Trapping Unit to Protect Europe’s Songbirds!

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