Table 2 A selection of trapper responses as to why they think that trapping is illegal (in order of frequency)
From: Exploring differences in stakeholders’ perceptions of illegal bird trapping in Cyprus
Number of times the response was given | ‘Why do you think that it is illegal to trap birds?’ |
|---|---|
5 | I think that it is because we agreed upon a EU directive without asking for a derogation from the law to trap on a traditional basis |
3 | I don’t know |
2 | The only reason it is illegal is because they haven’t found a way to tax it yet and because they assume that some of us are making a large amount of money out of this, which is not true |
2 | I am very aware of the laws. It happened during the Bern Convention when all states decided to protect birds that are less than 7.5 cm (including ambelopoulia) |
1 | The government had to prohibit the trapping and consumption of ambelopoulia because of pressure from the EU and threats that their tourism will be affected |
1 | English used to live here and they made the law 50–200 years ago and it still runs today and goes on and on |
1 | It’s all about the money. They decided to prohibit it because they thought the people were making too much money out of it. I don’t think that it is about protecting the birds because I don’t think that there is a risk to the birds. I think that it is about the high prices |
1 | It’s because of the media’s exaggeration and misinformation |
1 | It has always been illegal but people were allowed to do it in the past |