When three balaclava-clad thugs emerged from cars on a remote stretch of road in rural Cyprus, their message to activists was clear – back off. It was the latest act of intimidation linked to a man accused of being one of Europe’s most prolific bird killers.
Stelios Yiasemides, known locally as Akas, is allegedly behind the mass slaughter of up to 1,000 songbirds a day. A figure he denies. He has been accused of fuelling the illicit trade of ambelopoulia, a banned but still-coveted local delicacy of boiled or picked songbird
An estimated 500,000 migratory birds, from thrushes and wagtails to hoopoes and owls, are trapped and killed on the Mediterranean island each year using fine-mesh nets or glue-covered sticks. The practice has been illegal since 1974 but activists said enforcement remains virtually non-existent and dangerous for those who try to expose it.
Days before the standoff with the masked men, a hulking 4×4 had come hurtling down a dusty mountain track with its tyres spitting gravel. It tore towards a convoy of cars which included naturalist Chris Packham, his stepdaughter Megan McCubbin and activists from the Committee Against Bird Slaughter (CABS). The group of campaigners were headed towards Akas’ Farm in Maroni, a village near Larnanca.
In a fenced valley there, a network of hunters have been illegally trapping millions of migratory birds as they pass through the island.
Activists say that up to 1,000 birds are caught and killed every day, although Akas claimed the figure was between 100 to 200 a day.
Mr Packham and Ms McCubbin came face-to-face with the hunter when he blocked the road to his industrial killing ground after protesters descended on it the previous morning.
Speaking to Akas, the TV presenter said: “Thousands of tourists come here and support the economy on your island. They would absolutely hate what you do because they love birds. You don’t care, do you? You don’t care at all about the reputation of Cyprus on the international stage because all you want to do is kill birds and make loads of money out of it?”
Akas hit back: “Of course I care, I care, I care.” He added: “I have money. I don’t want money. I like the sport. That’s it. Sport.”
When Mr Packham asked how much profit he makes, Akas said: “We don’t make a lot of money. We give it away as gifts or we eat them. It’s our food.”
When pressed by the Daily Express that they do make money from the trade, he responded “no”.
Akas, who has received fines of up to 15,000 euros at a time, claimed he only kills blackcaps and releases the others free. Activists dispute these claims.
Another hunter with Akas, also named Stelios, said: “The way people eat lamb or chicken, we eat birds.”
The pair told how generations of their grandfathers have done the slaughtering in the name of tradition. Akas, 55, told how he started the practice at around 10 years old.
Ms McCubbin told him: “These are our birds that you are killing. They come from all over Europe to Africa, though Cyprus, they are our birds.
She added: “Ultimately, we have to look at what we are doing here to improve situations. You can’t point the blame [somewhere else]. That’s not acceptable. “
Akas said: “I don’t care for Africa and I don’t care for Lebanon. I don’t care for everybody. I care for me. I care for myself.”
Mr Packham and Ms McCubbin’s work shone such a spotlight on Akas that police, who have been accused of doing little to clampdown on the trade, conducted a dawn raid days later.
Officers stormed the site and found 63 dead birds and released 343 live ones.
They also collected 20 nets, four calling devices which are used to lure birds from the skies into the nets, five car batteries and eight loud speakers.
It is understood that Akas could face a fine of up to 20,000 euros.
Mr Packham, who said there just “isn’t the political will” to stop the slaughters, described how an anti-poaching unit which had been doing positive work in Cyprus was shut down after lobbying by Cypriot hunters.
He said: “It’s made it more difficult now to get any sort of [police] action. Fines are issued. Some of the smaller on the spot fines could be 200 euros. But for other trapping sites the fines could run to thousands of euros but they’re not paid and when they go to court, they’re not enforced. There just isn’t the political will to sort it out, and invest in teams of law enforcement that will actually make a difference.”
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