Help us halt illegal hunting

Help us halt illegal hunting

Legislation to regulate bird hunting

Quail in grassy field
Quails are popular targets for hunters, with many shot illegally in spring

When we talk about illegal hunting, it is in terms of the law within a given country or of the European legislation that the country is obliged to comply with.

Legal hunting of birds in Europe is governed by two pieces of legislation:

The European Union Birds Directive 79/409 on the conservation of wild birds (as amended) applies to the Member States of the European Union (25 countries as of 2006). 

This Directive puts the 1979 Bern Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats into effect within the EU. This Council of Europe convention is in force in all European countries except Russia, Belarus, some former Yugoslavian countries and those in the Caucasus.

All the countries featured in these pages are subject to both European treaties. The legislation regulates the hunting, capture, killing and sale of many species and protects habitats, especially those that are important for migrating species.

In relation to hunting, the EU Birds Directive (BD) and Bern Convention (BC) oblige countries to incorporate the following into their own laws (relevant articles of the two laws are given in brackets):

  • A general system of bird protection - all wild bird species must be conserved, including by national or regional laws (BD: 1, 5; BC: 1, 6)
  • Regulate legitimate hunting - each country may permit certain species (for EU countries, from the 82 species on Annex II of the directive) to be hunted providing that their populations can sustain this and that there is a closed season. The closed season must cover the breeding season and, for migratory birds, the spring migration to their breeding grounds (BD: 7; BC 7)
  • Methods of hunting - all large-scale or indiscriminate methods of catching or killing birds are prohibited, in particular, the use of snares, bird lime (glue), live decoys, nets, traps, poisons and automatic weapons (BD: 8; BC: 8)
  • Derogations - countries may make exceptions from bird protection measures for strictly defined reasons. Any such exceptions are monitored by the European Commission and Council of Europe (BD: 9; BC: 9).       

The RSPB, in close collaboration with its BirdLife Partners, strongly supports these laws, which have been effective in regulating and reducing levels of hunting across the EU, and relies upon them to encourage governments and others to act against illegal hunting.

Last modified: 29 June 2006

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