EU Lifts Hunting Ban on Turtle Doves in ‘Reckless’ Move

The European Commission has lifted a ban on hunting vulnerable turtle doves for sport.

The commission announced that EU countries could reopen the European turtle dove (Streptopelia turtur) hunting season in areas of Western Europe. The reopening followed a pause on hunting the birds initiated in 2021.

“The Turtle-dove did its part. Left alone, it started to recover. But governments failed to uphold their end of the deal. Instead of fixing weak enforcement and protecting habitats, they’re rushing to lift the ban. This is reckless and shortsighted. We know where this path leads – straight back to the brink. The European Commission should have stood firm and kept the moratorium,” said Barbara Herrero, BirdLife Europe’s senior nature conservation policy officer, in a press release from the nonprofit.

The ban had stopped the hunting of turtle doves in France, Spain, Portugal and the Western Flyway in northwest Italy in 2021. In 2022, it had halted hunting in Greece, Italy, Bulgaria, Austria, Romania, Malta and the Central-Eastern Flyway in Cyprus.

“Hunting is a major driver of the species’ decline, yet instead of strengthening protections, the Commission is opening the door to more killing,” BirdLife Europe said. “The hunting pause worked. Data shows that after years of decline, the Turtle-dove population in the Western Flyway has started to recover. But in the Central-Eastern Flyway, where hunting bans have not been properly enforced, no recovery has been observed.”

European turtle doves continue to be listed as “Vulnerable” on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List due to unsustainable hunting, habitat loss and food shortages caused by intensive farming and pesticides.

Turtle doves are a member of the pigeon species who mate for life. Each year they fly across Europe from sub-Saharan Africa to breed in northern European countries during the summer months, reported The Guardian. In countries like Italy and Spain, people shoot migrating turtle doves for sport.

Without the ban, hunters will be permitted to shoot 132,000 of the birds across France, Italy and Spain.

Alejandro Martínez, president of the Royal Spanish Hunting Federation, said European turtle doves are classed as game because they can be sustainably hunted and serve a traditional social, economic, cultural or culinary purpose.

“Hunting in Spain generates €6.5bn and 200,000 jobs,” Martínez said, as The Guardian reported. “This serves as a driving force for development in rural areas that subsist and prosper thanks to the use of species like the turtle dove.”

The European Commission based its decision to end the hunting moratorium on three conditions: a rise in turtle dove survival rates; a population increase for a minimum of two consecutive years; and effective enforcement, monitoring and control systems.

“But one of these conditions has still not been met. While population numbers have improved, the enforcement systems remain weak and unreliable,” BirdLife Europe said. “The Commission is relying on a 1.5% hunting quota, assuming it will be sustainable, but there is no way to ensure that hunters will stick to this limit. The risk is clear. Without proper controls, overhunting will resume, and the species will start declining again.”

According to BirdLife Europe, illegal and unsustainable hunting in the Central-Eastern Flyway continues unchecked. Greece’s Ionian Islands are a hotspot for the illegal killing of migratory turtle doves, and Malta has continued hunting turtle doves illegally in the spring.

“The Turtle-dove is not safe. Without strong protections, we risk another devastating population crash. The European Commission must act responsibly and put nature before politics,” the press release said.