Millions of migratory songbirds are trapped or shot illegally each year in Mediterranean countries, primarily for food consumption — a practice causing enormous suffering and population-level impacts.
Songbirds caught in lime sticks or mist nets experience acute distress — struggling against adhesive or netting, injuring themselves in escape attempts, and experiencing the terror of capture and handling by humans. Birds that are not immediately processed may be held in cramped conditions before slaughter. The scale of illegal trapping in the Mediterranean represents one of the largest single sources of direct, human-caused wildlife welfare harm in Europe, largely hidden from public awareness.