Eagles and hawks from Lviv basements

“Imperial eagle. There are not more than 50 couples of these birds left in Ukraine,” head of the Lviv club of ornithologists, member of the Ukrainian Society for Preservation of Birds, ecologist Andrii Kyiko pointed at a huge bird, tied with a 50-centimeter rope to an old chair in the basement. The bird is standing on the concrete floor densely covered with brood. In the premises lit with one dim bulb without any natural light or fresh air there are nine birds: eagles, sea eagles, hawks, and buzzards. Most of them are in the Red Book. All of them have shabby tails and short ropes – from 30 centimeters to one meter long. The birds are hiding in the corners, next to the trash covered with their brood: empty jars, homemade preserves, an artificial Christmas tree, and broken furniture. This is how they are resting after a working day of incessant street photo sessions so that everyone could have a photo with a bird.

Despite the unbearable smell of brood in the basement of four meters long and two meters wide there are about ten people: an investigator, witnesses, a representative of the State Ecological Inspection in Lviv region, activists of nature protection organizations who helped to save the birds from captivity, and several journalists.

“A sea eagle tied to a chair, two steppe buzzards tied with laces to a board, three young white-tailed sea eagles, two of them tied to a construction tray and one tied to a water pipe with a dog lead; a common buzzard,” Kyiko is dictating for the investigator who is quickly writing down the list of birds that have to be retrieved in a few minutes.

The birds are looking at their savers with distrust. The two steppe buzzards repeatedly threw themselves at people’s feet and flickered on the floor. “They are hungry and asking for food,” the ornithologist concedes.

Kyiko puts on thick leather gloves and takes the birds one by one. The scared eagles’ screech echoes in the narrow basement. Te ornithologist puts the birds into the bags in which they will be transported to the place where they will be temporarily held.

FOUR BERKUT FIGHTERS AND TWO POLICEMEN PROTECTED THE NINE BIRDS FOR THE WHOLE NIGHT

According to the Lviv nature protectors, these birds on the leads appeared at the local tourist sites at the beginning of the last month or even earlier. “In the second half of October our amateur ornithologists even managed to take the people who offered taking photos with the birds to Halytsky district police office where they conversed with the policemen,” Kyiko told The Day. However, apparently, the conversation with the police did not help as the business with the birds from the Red Book prospered. “We tried to address the environmental prosecutor’s office, the State Ecological Inspection and the city hall. We got a reply from the ecological inspection, whereas the environmental prosecutor’s office sent us a come-off. It is hardly possible to do something without the support from the police,” the ecologist said.

The journalists of one of the television channels helped get things moving. They watched the birds in the evening and found out that they were kept in a basement in 33 Svobody Avenue. The activists of the NGO “Ekolohichny Opir” joined the campaign to release the birds.

The bird protectors called the police to the site of the emergency. However, for some reason, the police did not hurry and came only two hours later. The policemen refused to do anything before the specialists confirm that the birds in the basement are rare. This confirmation was given by the head of the Lviv Ornithologists’ Club who came to the yard in Svobody Avenue late at night and managed to see the birds through a tiny window.

“The fact that the representatives of the State Ecological Inspection came to the site of the emergency helped a lot. Actually, due to them the entrance to the basement where the birds were held was protected during the whole night by two policemen and four Berkut fighters,” Kyiko told The Day.

THE ACTIVISTS WERE THREATENED

However, while waiting for a Berkut detachment the activists who tried to stop birds’ tortures were not on a picnic. “Some minors were hanging around the basement with the birds. They were coming to the activists, shouted and swore, saying that we would have to pay for this. There were also the men with specific appearance. However, they kept silent. Only the children threatened us. It was clear that they were together as the minors often talked to the men. We stayed there till midnight. In the morning the policemen told us that those people were hanging around the basement the whole night,” Olha, the activist of Ekolohichny Opir said.

The representatives of the organization where the birds are taken asked the journalists not to reveal this place to avoid possible conflicts and intruders. Instead, those who did business with the animals seem not to be afraid of anything.

The adolescents who used to walk in the streets offering photos with eagles and hawks are not afraid of policemen, cameras or possibilities to be involved into a criminal case. When the ecologists took the birds from basement, five children, high-school girls and slightly younger boys rushed after them. They followed the people carrying the bags and openly photographed the car number plates.

THE BIRDS EVEN FORGOT HOW TO WALK

The activists of Ekolohichny Opir watched the ornithologist Andrii Kyiko release the birds to the aviaries. “Look, they are trying to walk. I have an impression that they cannot believe that they are not tied,” the state inspector for environmental protection Mykola BARABASH pointed at one of the white-tailed sea eagles that lifted its legs in turns and awkwardly flew short distances as if it was waiting that the rope would stretch and hold his short fly. If the court decides that the birds were kept illegally, they will be placed to Roztochchia reserve, the inspector explained. He hopes that in future it would be possible to set the birds free, however, it would be necessary to prepare them first.

Kyiko assures that it will be too difficult to teach the birds to live in natural conditions. “Today we saw that they cannot even move well. They are so used to sitting that they make a few steps and duck. They move incorrectly, they have been badly fed. Probably, it will be better to leave them in captivity, hand them over to the state zoos where they will be kept in due conditions and probably bred. As for their get, young birds, it will be possible to adapt them to the wild life. However, it is too early to say something now. Every bird has its character and abilities: one is able to learn everything it needs and it might be impossible to teach another one anything at all.”

“The nearest plan is to protect the rare birds at the court,” Barabash says. “The policemen will take measures to establish the identity of the persons who illegally kept the birds. Besides, they will raise the question about confiscating the birds in the judicial proceeding and handing them over to specialized centers for keeping and adaptation. In its turn the State Ecological Inspection will find out if the information that the birds are from the private zoo Kazka in Yalta corresponds to the facts. We will put our common efforts to take measures in order not to let the birds get back to the people who kept them.”