Illegal mega bird-trapping site in Mqabba reported to police

The German conservationists CABS have denounced a season rife with illegal trapping of finches, with various reports filed to the Maltese police.

The Campaign Against Bird Slaughter said that in just three days, it had uncovered six cases of illegal bird trapping, with huge clap-nets found in Mtahleb, Mqabba, Gharghur, Munxar, Dingli and Delimara being used to catch greenfinches, linnets and other finches.

CABS released an aerial picture of a trapping installation in Mqabba equipped with five pairs of clap-nets operated from a single hide, making it the single largest illegal bird trapping site ever found by CABS on Malta.

“It is clear that this massive site was constructed to catch hundreds of birds per week and to generate large financial profit,” CABS Wildlife Crime Officer Fiona Burrows said.

Finches used as decoys seized by CABS bird guards

Trapped birds can be sold for over €100 on the black market in Malta.

CABS’s 22 volunteers from Germany, England, Spain and Malta use covert surveillance to document and record illegal poaching in Malta and assist police officers from the Environmental Protection Unit (EPU).

Its latest finds bring the total number of illegal bird trapping sites reported to the authorities since the beginning of March, to 41.

During the operations, nets and trapping equipment and around 100 live finches were confiscated. All birds were immediately released back into the wild.

The poachers identified by the police are to be brought to court where they stand to face heavy fines.

CABS sharply condemned the Maltese government’s plans to lift the spring hunting moratorium for turtle dove as well as a legal loophole to allow poachers to falsely legitimise their taxidermized trophies of poached birds, by using old registration documents to launder their freshly killed specimens.

“If this quasi-amnesty will be realised, Prime Minister Robert Abela and his party will once again become accomplices of selfish poachers who stole rare birds from nature and can now enjoy the fruits of their criminal activity with impunity,” CABS Press Officer Axel Hirschfeld said.

“This will further contribute to Malta’s international reputation as a ‘poacher-state’ whose irresponsible politicians are actively supporting the destruction of Europe’s biodiversity to secure votes in the upcoming election.”