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White stork killed in the south of Milan ©Lipu-BirdLife Italia-La Repubblica

A stark reminder of why we fight against illegal White stork killing

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  • Italy
  • White Stork
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Italy

When things are going well, we often forget why it’s so important to keep on fighting. But this year, two tragic stork deaths in Italy reminded us why illegal bird persecution needs our constant attention.

For decades, the story of the White stork in Italy has been one of hope and recovery. Illegal poaching had driven the species out of the country in 1959, but it returned to breed successfully in the 1980s, when our BirdLife Partner LIPU set up a breeding centre near Turin. The first chicks fledged in 1985, and after that, the population grew constantly. There are now 335 pairs breeding in 10 regions across Italy, from Piemonte to Veneto, through Lombardy to Sicily.

This resounding success is thanks to decades of hard work: an intense programme of national and local awareness-raising campaigns, the provision of artificial nesting platforms, and Stork Day events organised by Lipu every June. Furthermore, in the late 1980s, two poachers were given a prison sentence after shooting a White Stork. The media attention surrounding this high-profile legal case probably made many potential lawbreakers think twice about their actions.

Sadly, after so many years of good news, this year two young storks were unlawfully shot in cruel and tragic circumstances. In Calabria, one juvenile was shot in the nest before it even had the chance to fledge.

White stork_killed in the south of Milan ©Davide Ferrari-Giornale di lodi.it

Another was shot down during its first flight, just south of Milan. In both cases, no suspects have been identified and police investigations continue.

Help us to make illegal bird killing a thing of the past, once and for all.


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Stichting BirdLife Europe and BirdLife International gratefully acknowledge financial support from the MAVA Foundation, the EU LIFE programme, the European Commission and Vogelbescherming Nederland (BirdLife Netherlands).
All content and opinions expressed on these pages are solely those of Stichting BirdLife Europe.
"Flight for Survival" is partially funded by the LIFE Against Bird Crime project. More information is available here.

Over 25 000 000 million birds are illegally killed around the Mediterranean, Northern Europe and the Caucasus every year. For non-rounded, mean numbers, and minimum/maximum estimates, see: Preliminary assessment of the scope and scale of illegal killing and taking of birds in the Mediterranean (Brochet et al 2016) and Illegal killing and taking of Birds in Europe outside the Mediterranean: assessing the scope and scale of a complex issue (Brochet et al., 2018)

“Flight for Survival” is a BirdLife International campaign managed by Stichting BirdLife Europe to raise awareness about the illegal killing of birds in Italy, Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Egypt, Lebanon, Bulgaria and Hungary, and their conservation activities to fight this.” The species storylines for this campaign are heavily inspired by the information available on the migration habits of the selected birds.

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