The environmental organization CABS, active on Zakynthos for three years in an effort to protect the endangered turtle dove species, reports that it has been attacked by poachers. It is the latest episode in a series of violent incidents that have been escalating since April 2024.
The photos went viral. Lacerations on the arms and torso, wounds on the legs, a broken nose. A group of about 15 people attacked staff and volunteers of the NGO Committee Against Bird Slaughter, or CABS, on Wednesday, April 16, in Keri, a wooded area on the island of Zakynthos.
The location is not random. The attackers, according to CABS, are turtledove poachers and Keri is the most active location for illegal hunting activities in the spring. The attack that took place on Holy Wednesday is the latest episode in a series of violent incidents that have steadily increased in recent years.
CABS activists and turtle dove poachers “met” in April 2023. It was the first year that the organization began operating on Zakynthos.
Zakynthos is a stopover for thousands of turtledoves every year between April and May, migrating from Africa to Europe to breed. Their journey is long and tiring, and the green Ionian islands, under normal conditions, are an ideal place for them to rest and refuel before continuing their journey.
However, for decades, local and visiting poachers have been hiding out in specific posts within the forests of Zakynthos or even in residential areas, targeting and killing turtle doves. This illegal activity has contributed to the decline of turtle dove populations − the migratory bird has been on the endangered species list since 2019.
The environmental organization CABS is based in Germany, but is mainly active in Mediterranean countries that are a passage for migratory birds, such as Italy, Spain, Cyprus, Lebanon, and Greece.
Solomon was on Zakynthos for a week last year and recorded (with audiovisual evidence) what has been an open secret in the local community for decades: that despite the ban, turtle dove hunting during the spring months on the island has continued, unhindered.
During the mission, Solomon also interviewed local law enforcement agents, forest rangers, and CABS staff and volunteers. We also observed firsthand how CABS operates in the field, which is to look for poaching incidents, record them visually, and then call the authorities to the scene to arrest the perpetrators.
“We are asking the authorities to do something. It is not simple because this changes the way they have been operating for the last 40 years,” Stefania Travaglia, a member of CABS, told Solomon last year. She argued that the best way to stop the phenomenon is to prosecute. “Changing a culture takes a lot of time, and we don’t have that time.”
This year’s attack occurred just four days after the group arrived on the island. Their stay on Zakynthos each year lasts about a month, from the beginning to the end of the turtledove migration − that is, as long as the illegal activity lasts.
On that day, Wednesday, April 16, the team had arrived in the Keri forest early in the morning, in order to collect evidence of poaching. The attack occurred around 12 noon, as the team was leaving the area.
Within a few minutes, about 15 people appeared at the scene, some wearing motorcycle helmets and others wearing hoods, full face masks, glasses and hats, as Philippos Stavrinos, a CABS volunteer who also participated in this year’s mission, told Solomon.
A violent attack ensued. The attackers punched a staffer in the face, breaking his nose. Another CABS member was thrown to the ground and beaten in the stomach – he was then taken to the hospital to have his knee stitched up.
A female CABS staffer was thrown to the ground. The attackers pulled her by her hair and back, trying to steal her backpack. She sustained a head injury during the attack.
Another CABS volunteer managed to escape by running towards a steep area. When the attackers noticed this, they began throwing stones at her − only by chance she wasn’t injured.
The attackers managed to steal a pair of binoculars, a backpack, and personal items. They also broke the camera with which the volunteer, who eventually escaped, tried to record the incident, as well as a mobile phone.
Before leaving the scene, the attackers told the CABS activists: “If you value your lives, don’t set foot in Keri again.”
The victims of the attack were treated at the hospital for their injuries and then gave a statement at the police station.
A Hellenic Police spokesperson confirmed the incident. He told Solomon that so far four people have been identified, arrested and taken to the prosecutor, and from there referred to the investigating judge.
They were released, after giving their statements, with restrictive conditions. They are accused with charges of robbery.
Myrto Karydi is Species Protection Policy Officer at the Hellenic Ornithological Society, an organization that has been monitoring the issue of spring poaching on Zakynthos for years.
She emphasizes that the violent incident “constitutes a very worrying escalation in the aggression that poachers on Zakynthos have already demonstrated in previous years.” She also points out that “without substantial intervention from the authorities, these individuals believe that they can not only act unobstructed, but also take legal action against anyone who dares to oppose them.”
Indeed, the attack on April 16 was the most violent, but not the first that CABS members have suffered in the three years they have been active on Zakynthos:
After the first attack, Bostjan Debersek, a CABS member with many years of experience in the field, told Solomon about the poachers of Zakynthos: “The people who hunt here are not criminals, they are more or less ordinary people. They do it because everyone does it and they think it’s something normal. For some it’s something social, a chance to spend time with their friends somewhere outside. It isn’t something they do to make a profit.”
As part of a scientific study by the Forest Research Institute, ELGO-DIMITRA and the Hellenic Ornithological Society, sound recording sensors were placed near passages on Zakynthos, where illegal hunting activity was believed to be taking place. For the period 2019-2022, at least 84,166 shootings were recorded in Keri and Vasilikos alone.
Haido Christodoulou told Solomon last year that when she took over the Zakynthos Forestry Service in February 2023, she realized that there was no record of incidents at the service, which raises questions about a possible cover-up of the phenomenon.
“My employees had not learned to work. I wanted to show a different way, to set a new framework as a leader, because before everyone was tone deaf,” she told Solomon, commenting on the culture that existed in previous years within the agency.
Although the issue appears to be high on the priorities of the new Forestry Director, understaffing issues are reportedly undermining these efforts.
In any case, as early as 2021 and following pressure from the Hellenic Ornithological Society, local action plans were instituted, both for the Ionian Islands and the Western Peloponnese, with the aim to combat spring poaching in these specific areas.
Myrto Karydi, although acknowledging the efforts of the Forestry Service, commented that “local authorities refuse to take drastic measures to combat the phenomenon.” She also speaks of obstruction by the Police and Game Wardens, while as she says, “they ask any local who reports a relevant incident to first collect information about the poachers themselves before taking action − something which is of course impossible since these are armed and aggressive individuals.”
A year ago, Bostjan Debersek told Solomon that he was not afraid as long as there was no physical violence. “The only thing I am afraid of is physical violence because it would be bad for our campaign, because we have to take care of our people. If we were to be physically attacked, we might have to stop the campaign for a while, which would allow the poachers to do whatever they want.”
But even after this year’s attack, the group continued to go into the field. Stefania Travaglia, a member of CABS, tells Solomon that since the incident, the organization has been trying to return to Keri every day, only now accompanied by a police escort, whenever available, and with the forest rangers.
However, she notes that in order to stop the illegal activity, both the Police and the Forestry Service will need to show greater commitment, while she hopes that by this time next year these services will be better staffed to combat the phenomenon.
Already since last year, CABS has recorded fewer incidents of poaching on the island. This, as Stefania Travaglia says, is explained on the one hand by the group’s systematic action over the last three years, and on the other by the rapid decline in the turtle dove population. The “tradition”, as poachers call it, is likely to disappear not because the law is being enforced, but because the illegal activity itself seems to be driving the species to extinction.
A ministerial decision, issued in August 2024, provided for an 87% reduction in the national turtle dove harvest for the months in which hunting of the species is permitted.
The annual harvest is set at 36,000 turtledoves and the hunting season will automatically end when this number is exceeded. This assumes that hunters declare their hunt, as required.
The Hellenic Ornithological Society says imposing a reduced harvest is “at best a half-measure” and argues that “the only way for the species to recover in terms of population, at this time, is to implement a pause, the so-called ‘moratorium’ on the legal hunting of the species for at least two to three years, a measure that has already been implemented with relative success in countries such as Portugal and France, which belong to the Western migration corridor.”
We addressed questions to the Ministry of Environment & Energy, asking, among other things, how the effectiveness of this specific measure is assessed. At the time of publication, the Ministry had not responded to our questions.
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