Elimination of the illegal use of poisoned bait as a method for controlling predators in the EC

CONSIDERING that there is evidence that poisoned bait is being used widely as an illegal method of controlling native or feral predators in the European Union (EU);

ALSO CONSIDERING that the EU is an institution that should take a leading role in environmental protection and that it can also set an example in combating the illegal use of poison for the rest of the world to learn from;

NOTING that every year thousands of animals are killed in this way in Europe, including individuals of threatened species such as Spanish Imperial Eagle Aquila adalberti, Eastern Imperial Eagle A. heliaca, Eurasian Black Vulture Aegypius monachus, Bearded Vulture Gypaetus barbatus, Red Kite Milvus milvus, Common Wolf Canis lupus and Brown Bear Ursus arctos. According to a number of sources, between 1990 and 2005 in Spain alone, poison caused the death of at least 70 Spanish Imperial Eagles, 16 Bearded Vultures, 420 Eurasian Black Vultures, 435 Red Kites, 182 Egyptian Vultures Neophron percnopterus and 767 Black Kites Milvus migrans, among other species protected under environmental law;

NOTING that some EU Member States, Spain among them, have initiated plans and strategies that, if developed properly, can serve effectively to combat the illegal use of poison; and

RECOGNIZING that under strictly supervised conditions and on a selective basis, the legal and regulated use of poison baits can have important conservation benefits through the control of alien invasive species;

The World Conservation Congress at its 4th Session in Barcelona, Spain, 5-14 October 2008:

1. URGES IUCN’s members, Commissions, Council, international organizations, the EU and its Member States to engage in a cooperative effort using all available means to eliminate the illegal use of poison bait in the natural environment; and

2. URGES the EU and its Member States to carry out a programme that promotes national action plans and facilitates their development using all available means to enforce existing controls over any use of poison baits in order to reduce negative impacts on native species;

In addition, the World Conservation Congress, at its 4th Session in Barcelona, Spain, 5-14 October 2008, provides the following guidance concerning implementation of the IUCN Programme 2009-2012:

3. ASKS the Director General to promote and collaborate in efforts to eliminate the illegal use of poisoned bait in the natural environment in order to reduce negative impacts on native species.

State and agency members of the United States abstained during the vote on this motion.

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via Ian Rist