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Dieren en planten

Birds   Bird Protection   Marine fauna   Seabirds   Oil victims   Birds   Top bird region   
Sandwich tern, foto fitis, adriaan dijksen

Bird Protection

Traditionally speaking, birds have been 'harvested' by people. Eggs were gathered and birds were hunted (by the well-to-do) or poached (by the poor). Around 1920, hoods decorated with stuffed terns came into fashion. Thousands of birds in the wadden region were killed for this purpose. Many people were shocked by these 'tern murders'. This led to the Bird Act in 1936, which gave legal protection to almost all European birds.

  • Hood fashion and bird protection?

    Since then, birds have been protected by all kinds of laws and regulations. In 2000, the old Act was replaced by the Flora and Fauna Act, which not only regulates protection for birds but also for other animals as well. Nowadays, there are also international regulations for protecting birds, such as the Ramsar Convention and the Bird Directive. The Netherlands has its own national regulations: Nature Protection Act. There are also agreements for specific bird groups, such as the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA).