Birdlife Malta in a statement today said that “Member of Parliament Dr Adrian Vassallo was yesterday found guilty by a Magistrate’s Court on two charges relating to the illegal possession of protected birds in an aviary on the roof-top of his Ta’ Xbiex residence, but in an astonishing decision the court ruled that Dr Vassallo should be allowed to continue keeping the birds in question and only fined him 500 Euros for the crime.”

“Magistrate Anthony Vella, presiding at the hearing, dismissed two more charges levelled against Dr Vassallo on the possession and use of cage traps, despite BirdLife Malta presenting video evidence and eyewitness testimony in court,” BLM said.

In its official statement, BirdLife Malta lamented the court decision, saying, “The result in this case clearly shows that the judiciary and enforcement authorities are reluctant to prosecute wildlife crimes to the full extent of the law.”

“It is for exactly these reasons that BirdLife is asking people to demand that politicians take steps to strengthen enforcement and penalties for crimes against wildlife in Malta and review the judicial process for these types of cases,” said Steve Micklewright, BirdLife Malta’s Executive Director, referring to the organisation’s “Your Voice Counts” election campaign. The organisation last week sent a questionnaire about wildlife and countryside issues to all election candidates and one of the questions asks about this subject.

“This case highlights the urgent need for such reform to improve the wildlife protection in Malta” continued Micklewright. “Under Maltese law the maximum fine for illegal possession of a protected species (for a first offence) is set at EUR 2329.37.

“On the 20th June 2012, Dr Vassallo was found in possession of at least 28 protected birds from at least six different species, all housed within his rooftop aviary, and none of them fitted with closed rings, which distinguish captive bred birds from their wild counterparts and must be fitted by law.

“Several of the species found in the aviary, including at least seven White Wagtails (Zakak Abjad) and a Black Redstart (Kudirross Iswed), are not known to be bred or kept in captivity, but do occur as wild birds in Malta in the winter months,” Mr Micklewright said.

BirdLife Malta said that it also presented photographic and video evidence at yesterday’s hearing, in which “witnesses testified showed that Dr Vassallo also had at least two illegal trabokki on his roof next to the aviary containing the protected birds. Magistrate Vella dismissed the charges against Dr Vassallo for the use and possession of trabokki, after the defence argued these were not trabokki but just open cages.”

Birdlife Malta continued that “this is not the first time that Magistrate Vella has disregarded video evidence and expert witness testimony to dismiss wildlife crime charges against a defendant. At a hearing last November, a hunter filmed handling a swallow after firing a shot, was liberated of all charges, despite his confession being recorded in a police affidavit.”

In what BirdLife described as “the final insult in yesterday’s hearing Magistrate Vella proceeded to rule that Dr Vassallo be allowed to continue to keep the protected birds in his aviary, ignoring the advice of a MEPA expert who said that the birds would be perfectly capable of surviving in the wild if released.”

BirdLife concluded its statement by saying that “it has been informed that the ALE intends to appeal against the decision to allow Dr Vassallo to keep the birds.”

Photo – by Birdlife Malta shows “Snapshot of aviary taken from the video.”

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