Animal rights activists have had enough

Clipped wings, thirsty birds

Simply made "unfit to fly" and its wings clipped: This crow was trapped to attract other birds.

(Bild: zVg)

A referendum is now being initiated: After more and more Lower Austrians are discovering bird traps or escaped animals are frequently dying, a team of animal rights activists is calling for a referendum. Motto: "EU law is being circumvented here. We need uniform nationwide regulations - without exceptions, for example at state level."

Shocking discovery by a family in the Amstetten district: They came across a cage with raven crows in a forest. As their wing feathers had been ruthlessly cut off, they were decoys and one of them died at the animal shelter. Three magpies near Korneuburg are also likely to have suffered long periods of agony: One of the birds had already died of thirst in the cage.

"Lower Austria lags behind in animal welfare here"
Approved trapping facilities should actually be checked daily, and the legal background is also difficult: although the birds are protected by the EU, regulations are being ignored in Austria. In this specific case, three federal states - Upper Austria, Carinthia and Lower Austria - grant exemptions for hunting for different lengths of time.

"The deadlines are longest in Lower Austria," explains bird expert Clemens Purtscher: "Because here they extend into the breeding season."

Legal facts about the referendum

Nationwide (Animal Protection Act):

• Use of decoy birds prohibited (§ 5 cruelty to animals). Trapping itself is considered hunting and as such is exempt from the Animal Protection Act.
• Lower Austria Hunting Act: The use of traps and other self-catching devices in hunting operations is prohibited with the exception of box traps for the live capture of furred predators and wild boar. BUT: The district administrative authority may issue an ordinance permitting the use of crow traps for the live capture of crows, hooded crows, magpies and jays.
• All district administrative authorities in Lower Austria (with the exception of the cities of Krems and St. Pölten) make use of this with an annual ordinance. All these district ordinances have the same wording. Permitted times: Jay and magpie until mid-March, hooded crow and crow until the end of March.

Due to the accumulation of "trapping cases" - 64,000 crows, 9900 magpies and 6700 jays are said to be trapped in Austria every year - animal rights activists have launched a petition for a nationwide standardization of the hunting law, including a ban on trapping. Renowned animal researchers such as wolf expert Kurt Kotrschal support the initiative.

Information can be found at www.vgt.at