CABS report 38 cases of poaching within 10 days

Over the past 10 days, the Committee Against Bird Slaughter (CABS) has uncovered largescale and widespread illegal trapping of protected songbirds on the coasts of Malta and Gozo, the group said in a statement.

A total of 18 cases were reported to the police, who confiscated 15 sets of clap nets and approximately 50 live birds. Five trappers were caught redhanded by the police and will be taken to court in due course. Another 13 poachers ran off when they saw the police arriving, but CABS is optimistic that they will be identified. “We have provided the police with our footage, which shows their faces and, in some cases, also the vehicle registration number of their cars,” said CABS wildlife crime officer Fiona Burrows.

“Although 15 nets have been seized by the police, in three other incidents the nets were removed by the trappers before they fled the scene. Live decoy birds were only seized when trappers abandoned them or if there was no visible ring. Unfortunately, there was no bird experts or enforcement officers available from the Wild Bird Regulation Unit (WBRU) to conduct proper and thorough checks of the ringed birds,” Burrows added.

Furthermore, 20 additional finch trapping sites which have been confirmed as recently active from both an aerial survey and field investigations have been reported to the police for further investigation. These also include three trapping sites installed on the rooftop of the historical Cottonera Lines in Vittoriosa.

In one recent incident at Ħal Far, after realising that he was being watched, a poacher exposed himself to the team and later tried to run a CABS member over with his car in front of the police. There have also been several incidents of intimidation and threats made towards teams. A group of tourists were even chased by bird trappers on Dingli Cliffs after being mistaken for CABS members, the group said.

Finch trapping is a controversial practice in Malta which was declared illegal by the EU courts last year. Following this verdict, Malta has recently changed its legislation and banned finch trapping all year around. But according to CABS, the government does not seem to be very eager to enforce the new rules. “If our teams can find 38 illegal sites in only 10 days, this shows that a total ban only exists on paper,” CABS press officer Axel Hirschfeld said, adding that Malta desperately needs an experienced, professional Wildlife Crime Unit to cope with its bird poaching problems.