Slaughter of the songbirds: the fight against France's 'barbaric' glue traps

[Judi Lynn]

Kim Willsher in Provence

Sat 30 Nov 2019 07.30 EST

French hunters claim tradition justifies their exemption from EU rules. But with many species endangered, there is growing pressure for a ban

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Kim Willsher in Provence

Sat 30 Nov 2019 07.30 ESTLast modified on Sat 30 Nov 2019 12.45 EST


It is early morning in the heart of Provence, and somewhere behind the tall black pine trees a rousing dawn chorus begins. We are crouching out of sight among the rosemary bushes and wild asparagus listening to the melodic musical phrases of song thrushes and blackbirds.

This is Marcel Pagnol country, rich in flora and fauna and of exceptional natural beauty; but there is no sign of the singing birds anywhere in the rustling foliage, trees or sky.

Yves Verilhac, of France’s Ligue pour la Protection des Oiseaux (LPO), knows why. “The singing you can hear is from caged thrushes and blackbirds who are appellants (callers). They’re caught and kept in the dark for months so when they’re taken out into daylight they sing their hearts out and attract other birds.”

He points above the treetops where clusters of sticks attached to vertical poles glisten in the nascent sunlight. “Those are verguettes: sticks covered in glue. The callers call, other birds come, land on a verguette, and they’re stuck. The more they struggle to get away, the more they become stuck.”

More:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/nov/30/slaughter-of-the-songbirds-the-fight-against-frances-barbaric-glue-traps-aoe

[Cattledog]

1. Sick bastards.

[MuseRider]

2. This is disgusting and I could have lived my whole life without knowing this.

This is not a sport, how can this be allowed as a sport? Birds are dying by the millions because of all the other crap we humans have done.

I live where I live partly because it is, or was, a prime route for migratory birds. Twice a year I could find birds I had never seen before. I let small forests grow on my farm for birds and now they are practically vacant all year and I read this?

We are the worst of all, the dumbest of all and the cruelest of all species. We have been and continue to shit in our nest and the price is going up and will soon be completely out of our reach to remain.

My god.

[yonder]

3. +1000. You nailed it, MR.

The price is going up and soon enough, without change, h. sapiens shall be trapped by our own hand.

[I_UndergroundPanther]

4. I'd like to drop all those fuckers

Hurting birds with glue sticks in a deep vat of glue and watch them struggle until they die of exhaustion. Fuck thier stupid cruel tradition. People disgust me.

[Duppers]

5. Same here. nt

Sick assholes.