Millions of wild songbirds are illegally trapped annually for the cagebird trade and food markets, causing acute welfare harm during capture and confinement and driving population declines across species.
Songbird trapping causes welfare harm disproportionate to the small size of the animals involved. The acute terror of net capture, the injury from limestick adhesive that pulls feathers and skin, and the compression trauma of handling by inexperienced trappers all cause measurable distress in animals with delicate physiology poorly adapted to survive human capture. Transport in cramped containers causes further stress and mortality before birds reach markets or buyers. Those that survive and reach the cagebird trade face lifelong confinement in small cages without the space for flight that is fundamental to bird wellbeing. Enforcement against illegal trapping is inconsistent across the Mediterranean and inadequate to deter the economic incentives driving the trade. Demand reduction campaigns targeting consumer markets for trapped birds are an essential complementary strategy.