The Malta Ranger Unit said that last year, together with BirdLife Malta, they checked “hotspot areas” around Malta during “out-of-hours” when trapping can’t be carried out.

The MRU said that one of the individuals caught red-handed in the South of Malta by Police during this shift, was sentenced in Court last week after admitting to the crime.

He received a €1000 fine and had his trapping license suspended for 2 years.

The MRU said that several sites were proven to be active at night with illegal loud electronic bird callers of Golden Plover and Lapwing.

“If anyone hears bird calls late at night, please alert us. It’s not natural for birds to call continuously during the dark hours. Send us a Google map pin location and a video of the sound (so that we can determine which caller),” the MRU said.

It also highlighted which are the “hotspot areas” for such illegal callers, which are among others; Delimara, Siggiewi, Mgarr, Zabbar and Zebbug in Malta.

However, the MRU stated that in Gozo, “the hotspots are all along the coast where it’s hard for the Police to enforce the laws due to not having an Environmental Protection Unit Police. Unfortunately until that is sorted, the environmental criminals have nearly full impunity.”

Malta Ranger Unit Rangers are reachable via WhatsApp message 7937 8118 .

File photo: MRU

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