10,000 dead songbirds seized from Romanian truck

Sold as a delicacy in Italian restaurants

November 2011: 10,000 dead songbirds have been seized in Hungary close to the Romanian border.

SONGBIRD SUPPER: The birds, which included some reed buntings, were bound for Italian restaurants

They were found in a Romanian truck, after officials became suspicious of boxes within the refrigerated consignment that appeared different to those containing meat and sausage products.

Skylarks, bluethroats, fieldfares and many more
Upon opening them, they discovered thousands of songbirds that appeared to have been recently shot. The majority were Eurasian skylarks, but the haul also included Calandra larks, red-throated pipits, bluethroats, European goldfinches, fieldfares, mistle thrushes, reed buntings and white wagtails.

Driver faces ten months in jail
The driver was arrested and has already been prosecuted under a fast-track procedure and now faces ten months' imprisonment.

In 2008, TRAFFIC highlighted the illegal trade in wild birds at a meeting of European Union (EU) government agencies involved in regulating wildlife trade in the region.

According to a TRAFFIC study, hundreds of thousands of wild birds were being illegally killed by highly organized criminals in south-east and central Europe who smuggled the carcasses to northern Italy to be sold as a delicacy in restaurants.

EU should find this illegal trade unacceptable
‘Despite TRAFFIC's earlier warnings, the illegal trade in songbirds within Europe clearly still continues - a situation the EU should find unacceptable and do its utmost to rectify,' said Katalin Kecse-Nagy, a senior programme officer with TRAFFIC.

The majority of bird species illegally hunted in Europe are songbirds, such as finches, warblers, pipits and buntings, which are protected under international treaties, EU and national legislation, particularly the EU's Birds Directive.

Illegal hunting in the European Union had shifted from Hungary to Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro, but also occurs in countries such as Bosnia and Herzegovina, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Albania and Croatia. The main transit countries are Slovenia, Croatia and Hungary, from where the birds are exported to Italy.