The Committee Against Bird Slaughter (CABS) has sharply criticised the government for ”unlawfully authorising” the trapping of songbirds under the guise” of so-called ‘research.’

‘Although Malta has already been condemned twice by the European Court of Justice for this practice, CABS said that as from yesterday ”thousands of bird trappers are once again permitted to hunt goldfinches, chaffinches, linnets, hawfinches and siskins using nets.”

CABS however warned that ”this has nothing to do with research; rather, it serves to catch as many birds as possible illegally for the black market.”

It stated that ”even in the weeks leading up to the official opening, our teams documented numerous cases of illegal bird trapping and caught eight poachers red-handed.”

CABS added that ”the police, whom we had alerted, seized nine snap-net sets, one set net and a 180-square-metre ground net used for catching quails in a field near Il-Fawwara. Thirty-nine live birds were seized and later released.”

BirdLife Malta has said that Malta has not only reopened trapping activities in ”defiance of EU law, but has also increased the number of authorised trapping sites.”

It stated that according to the map based on the official coordinates published by the Wild Birds Regulation Unit (WBRU), 3,688 sites have been registered for finch ‘research’ – 756 more than last year.

The same map lists a further 1,800 sites for trapping Golden Plovers and Song Thrushes – 159 more than last year, the organisation said.

According to BirdLife Malta, many of these trapping sites approved by the WBRU are located on public land.

Photo: CABS

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