Pensioners have illegally caught and acted thousands of songbirds

A pensioner in southern France, who illegally caught thousands of songbirds for years and resold them for consumption, has been sentenced to a high punishment. The appellate court in Aix-en-Provence imposed six months in prison for the 78-year-old due to poaching and a fine of 30,000 euros, reported the BFMTV and the newspaper « Var-Matin », referring to the judiciary.

The accused said in court that he had learned from his grandfather to catch robin with special traps and ants as bait. The investigators had found around 50 of the birds in his freezer and accused him of setting up dozens of traps at the heights of Toulon. The French Office for Biodiversity estimated that it caught around 20 birds a day and thus several thousand a year.

Rocker skewers as a feast

The poetry of robin was practiced in Provence for a long time, where you ate robin skewers, especially on the Christmas holidays. As a traditional hunting method, this is no longer protected. The Office for Biodiversity emphasized that the vast majority of sparrow birds such as robin, titms or sparrows are recognized as protected species. Her catching and killing is a criminal offense that is punished in France with up to three years in prison and up to 150,000 euros.

The animal welfare organization « One Voice », which was one of the co -plants, reacted pleasantly to the judgment: « One Voice is happy about this judgment, which is hopefully daunting enough, not only so that the perpetrator does not do it again, but also so that others do not get tempted to do the same. » The pensioner had caught around 5,000 birds a year and, admittedly, to have prepared a spit every now and then.