FKNK writes to Potočnik, complains of ‘legal expectations shattered’

In a letter sent to the European Commissioner for the Environment Janez Potočnik, FKNK Malta asked why the Commission objected only now to the application of a derogation for the trapping of birds of the same species that can be legally shot.

“This is the same derogation which Malta has always applied and justified in identical fashion for almost seven years,” FKNK president Lino Farrugia said.                                                                                                            

Referring to the trapping, FKNK wrote how “this method of live-bird capturing has been passionately practised on the Maltese islands by the local trappers since time immemorial.

“It is an indigenous custom dating back over 500 years, as proven by historical documents. Beyond the mere live-capture of a bird, it embodies the very essence of inherent socio-cultural and anthropological elements handed down from father to son, from generation to generation. A biased administration does NOT have the right to inflict on its many Maltese aficionados the injustice of abolishing this wonderful tradition.”

FKNK also complained on government’s “unfair procrastination or unwillingness to open the season on the eleventh hour is having serious consequences on the very lives of its trapper members.”

FKNK said the trappers have spent thousands of euro in preparation, equipment including paying for their trapping licences for this year.

“They have been waiting for one year for the season to start. Their legal expectations have been shattered. Their passions and dreams have been ruined by this uncertainty,” FKNK wrote.

It also cited the European Court Case C-182/02, Ligue pour la protection des oiseaux and others, where the Court held that: “It is clear from the foregoing that the hunting of wild birds for recreational purposes during the periods mentioned in Article 7(4) of the Directive may constitute a judicious use authorised by Article 9(1)(c) of that directive, as do the capture and sale of wild birds even outside the hunting season with a view to keeping them for use as live decoys or to using them for recreational purposes in fairs and markets’.

FKNK said that it is still “incomprehensible” how the Maltese government has failed to address the deadline imposed by the Commission.

“These people who hunt and trap are also EU citizens, and they are the interested stakeholders and protagonists of this saga. FKNK won’t stand by and let them suffer the consequences brought about by governmental omissions that are completely alien to the scientific and legal considerations that should be the main focal points of any derogation.”