RIEW-Sofia alerts police about dead birds near Koprivshtitsa

The Regional Inspectorate of Environment and Water - Sofia has alerted the "Crimes against Wildlife" Department of the National Police Directorate General about more than a thousand dead birds found near Koprivshtitsa. On the basis of the evidence found, the institution on whose territory the case of the dead Bramblings is located, proposes that an investigation be carried out into a crime of a general nature.


"The necropsy and analysis give reason to believe that the cause of death was stress caused by the pyrotechnics on New Year's Eve," the Green Balkans Wildlife Rescue Centre said earlier. According to the experts, there is no possibility that the birds near the city were poisoned or infected with avian flu.Songbirds are diurnal and if they are frightened at night by the loud noise and sudden bursts of fireworks, they will fly up and become very disoriented, collide with obstacles, etc., a RIEW expert explained, adding that fireworks should not be used in ornithologically important places, national parks and other protected areas, as well as in bird colonies and roosts.The Brambling (Fringilla montifringilla), also known as the Mountain Finch, is a small migratory songbird. It is widespread, but declining. It forms large flocks in winter, sometimes with thousands or even millions of birds in a single flock. It is a protected species in Bulgaria. According to the Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds, 1,534 Bramblings were recorded last year.