Organisation: The Committee Against Bird Slaughter

Who are we?
The Committee Against Bird Slaughter (CABS) is the English title for the German “Komitee gegen den Vogelmord e.V.”, a recognised independent non-profit conservation organisation based in Bonn. CABS is a non-partisan and politically independent organisation which finances its operations and day to day activities exclusively through donations from foundations and private individuals. CABS receives no money from either public funds or industry.

In a survey of charitable organisations in 2002, the German consumer magazine ‘Öko-Test’ awarded us the seal of approval ‘Very Good’ for our minimal staffing and administrative overheads and effective use of donations - over 90 % of funds received are available for its operations and non-administrative activities!

Website: (in English) http://www.komitee.de/en/

Aims of the Organisation:
CABS was founded in 1975. Since then it has conducted well organised and successful operations, in cooperation with local partner organisations and the responsible local authorities, in European states where migrant birds are still illegally hunted and caught - often using cruel and barbaric methods - with different types of traps, nets, lime sticks or shotguns.

CABS volunteers, Mizieb, Malta 2009

Every year CABS teams of volunteers participate in so-called bird protection camps or special operations in Italy, France, and on the islands of Cyprus and Malta, and collect annually over 25,000 nets and traps, monitor hundreds of hunters and assist the police to catch poachers red-handed. It also provides material and financial support to conservation organisations in other European countries, especially in the new EU member states in Eastern Europe where personnel, finance and basic equipment are in high demand.

Read more about ongoing and past operations and activities at http://www.komitee.de/en.

Conservation achievements:
In the 34 years since the organisation was founded, CABS teams have conducted operations all over Europe with, over the past few years, the emphasis on combating illegal hunting and trapping in Mediterranean countries. Early in its history CABS, in close cooperation with the Ligue Royale Belge pour la Protection des Oiseaux, were instrumental in putting an end to illegal song bird trapping along the German/Belgian border and the complete banning of finch trapping in Belgium.

Ongoing projects include a campaign against the brutal practices of stone crush trapping in France [A trap - tendelle in French - consists of a limestone slab weighing 3 to 10 kilograms, which is propped up on a structure of twigs and wood slivers and strewn with fresh juniper berries as bait. Birds coming to eat the berries brush against the twigs and are crushed under the slab or trapped in a small cavity and suffocated] and the equally cruel and illegal parany lime stick installations in eastern Spain [In the east of the Iberian Peninsula, in the autonomous regions of Catalonia and Valencia, bird trapping is still an integral part of ‘traditional’ hunting. Every autumn countless thrushes are caught on treacherous lime sticks in hundreds of trapping sites - the so-called ‘Barraccas’ or 'Paranys'].

Financial and material assistance has also been provided to bird conservationists on Mallorca and in the Balkans. Our main effort, for which we are perhaps best known, is today concentrated on our larger scale operations on Cyprus, Malta and in Italy.

Read more on this and keep up to date on our activities on the website at www.komitee.de/en (news updates posted to the homepage).

Membership:
Our success depends on the commitment and generosity of some 10,000 members and sponsors throughout Europe, not all of whom are able to support us physically. But without their support in terms of donations or sponsor membership it would not be possible to conduct operations on the present scale. This would mean more birds killed, wounded or destined for a life in captivity every year. Every Euro, Pound or Dollar counts!

If you want to make a worthwhile and direct contribution to bird protection in Europe, please visit http://www.komitee.de/en/index.php?donations and help to fund our vital operations or become a sponsor member.

Contact us:
Committee Against Bird Slaughter (CABS)
Auf dem Dransdorfer Berg 98,
D-53121 Bonn
Germany
Tel.: +49(0)228-665521 or Mobile: +49(0)172-2191542
Fax: +49(0)228-665280
komitee@komitee.de

60 Second Sell written by David Conlin, CABS Operations Officer

The ‘Saturday 60 Second Sell’ is a free and permanent space offered to any conservation organisation or group who would like to promote their work/activities etc to the thousands of visitors to this blog. Please contact Charlie (charlie10000birds - AT- gmail.com) if you would like to take part.
There are no terms or conditions whatsoever (other than that we reserve the right to decide what gets posted on 10,000 Birds), but it would help us post the “sell” more quickly if you or your group could write it yourself following a format similar to the one above.