In the last 10 days members of the Committee Against Bird Slaughter (CABS) teams said that they have witnessed and documented ”numerous cases of illegal bird trapping as well as one case of exceptional brutal animal cruelty.”

CABS stated that ”a particularly high punishment is looming for a man on Gozo who was filmed catching and killing a Kestrel – a strictly protected falcon species.”

The organisation said that the footage released today shows the accused running towards the entangled bird and then ”crushing it to death with his boot. He then takes the dead bird and throws it into a bush like rubbish.”

“The footage is hard to watch and a cautionary example for the complete lack of empathy and compassion with which many poachers act,” CABS Press Officer Axel Hirschfeld said. She added that the video, which was published on YouTube also shows the man scrambling around on the ground and collecting cages after he realised that the police was coming for him.

CABS said that its cameras also caught the moment when the man ”pretended to be in physical distress to distract the police from the fact that he was hiding evidence – probably an illegal bird calling machine – in a nearby bean field.”

Kestrels are listed in Schedule I of the Conservation of Wild Bird Regulations providing them with the highest level of protection under Maltese law. Once hunted to extinction, the species has made a moderate comeback in recent years with some pairs irregularly breeding on Malta and Gozo.CABS Wildlife Crime Officer Fiona Burrows thanked the police for their quick response and good cooperation in the field. “Most of the officers did a good job and we are confident that all cases we have reported will go to court,” Burrows said.

According to CABS, a total of 11 trappers were caught red-handed by Environmental Protection Unit officers in Malta, and two by the Gozo Police.

CABS said that the reports resulted in the confiscation of 20 sets of clap-nets as well as 56 live and 3 dead birds. The men are expected to be summoned to court in the coming months. The confiscated live birds – mostly Chaffinches, Greenfinches, Linnets and Siskins were taken to the Government vet and will be released soon.

CABS also levelled sharp criticism at what it called the Maltese government’s “decades-long indifference” towards the ”dark underbelly of animal cruelty and illegal bird trade across the archipelago.”

CABS is calling for an immediate end to all government-sanctioned trapping derogations – which they claim serve as legal smokescreens for poachers who fuel the black market with wild-caught birds.

“The narrative of the ‘harmless old trapper who just wants to enjoy his past’ is a myth,” Hirschfeld added.

CABS said that its teams will be present in Malta and Gozo until the end of the bird migration season in May.

Photos and video CABS: Trapper stepping on Kestrel; trapper crawling to decoys; and trapper with Gozo Police

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