Today, The Society for the Protection of Nature in Lebanon (SPNL) team together with members of the Middle Eastern Sustainable Hunting Centre (MESHC) conducted field investigations around the city of Barja, Shouf, Mount Lebanon, in cooperation with a number of local hunters who follow the hunting law. The action was in response to recent intelligence received regarding industrial-scale trapping in seven areas in Barja to target and kill songbirds for illegal sale on the black market.
Together with the Lebanese Internal Security Forces (ISF) many mist nets with a total length of more than 200 meters were confiscated. Several birds trapped in the nets were released unharmed.
The materials found were handed to the police for investigation, as were the hunters found to be in violation of the anti-hunting law.
Although these are just two sites of the tens of thousands of trapping sites blocking the path for migratory birds, it is a start for 2020.
SPNL is grateful to the ISF efforts conduct in conjunction with the current efforts to mobilize rescues in response to the Coronavirus COVID-19 outbreak and during the general mobilization decree. The estimated mean number of individual birds killed illegally is 248 per square kilometer each year. There are 327 species of bird occurring regularly in Lebanon, with around 59% of these being killed illegally in significant numbers.
