Three owls caught in illegal traps near Zygi have been freed and released, the Committee against Bird Slaughter (CABS) said on Saturday, as officers seized 150 limesticks at trapping sites.

CABS teams found two Cyprus Scops Owls, a species found only on the island, tangled in mist nets.

Near Zygi they found a Barn Owl stuck by its wing to glue-coated limesticks.

The group said the bird was a juvenile hatched this spring, probably searching for its first territory. All three were cleaned, checked for injuries and released.

Game and fauna service officers attended the sites, with one offender being fined €2,200.

CABS said the case showed the “indiscriminate nature” of trapping, since the methods used catch species the trappers are not interested in.

The nets and limesticks are used to catch ambelopoulia, a controversial delicacy of pickled or fried songbirds, mainly blackcaps.

BirdLife Cyprus estimates that 726,000 migrating songbirds were illegally trapped last autumn.

That is well below the more than two million a year killed a decade ago, but conservation groups say demand from restaurants drives the trade.

Mist-net trapping fell by 47 per cent last year after police raids on three organised sites in Larnaca, which saw fines above €157,000 imposed.