The Federation for Hunting & Conservation – Malta (FKNK) said that it believes that after nine years, an amnesty should be granted, before tagging of any bird trophies that had been registered with the Environment Protection Directorate (EPD).

FKNK said, discussions should then follow to focus on the type of data collation that should be adopted for certification of all registered trophies.

FKNK said that “the Director of the Environment Protection Directorate (EPD) has arbitrarily decided to tag any bird trophies that had been registered with the Directorate in 2003, only now and if the owner of the trophies decides to dispose of the trophies in any manner.”

FKNK said it had always objected to such tagging because:

– This is another ‘only in Malta’ procedure, nowhere in EU legislation;

– The schedule of birds that can be mounted does not make sense, e.g. a bird that cannot be found in the wild on the Maltese islands may be mounted, whereas a bird that can be legally shot, killed, skinned, cooked and consumed, cannot be mounted as a trophy!

– The relative legislation is open to interpretation as to whether marking of such trophies should take place, and what types of markings, if any, should be used;

– The Malta Ornis Committee never approved the procedure whenever this was an agenda item.

The FKNK concluded by saying it “considers this action by the EPD as another unjust imposition on hunters, this time directly affecting their personal legal possessions.”

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