Bird Trapping with Lime Sticks in the Mediterranean

Bird trapping with lime sticks kills an estimated 2 million migrating songbirds annually across Cyprus, Italy, and Egypt, with a single illegal trap in Cyprus capturing 150 birds in one day. This ancient method coats branches with adhesive, ensnaring endangered species like the European turtle dove, whose populations have declined 80% since 1980. It is more destructive than shark finning (#7) in terms of species diversity, targeting over 300 different bird species each season, compared to the 30 shark species commonly finned. Despite EU bans with fines up to €20,000, an estimated 10% of Cyprus’s rural population still participates, making it the least enforced practice on the list. Unlike bear baiting (#6), which uses dogs and GPS, lime sticks are a silent, invisible killer that leaves birds to struggle for hours before death, provoking outrage from ornithologists who call it a 2,000-year-old relic needing an immediate global ban.