The government has been accused by the hunters' federation of caving in to pressure from Birdlife after it rejected a recommendation by the Ornis Committee to allow trapping of two bird species beyond the end of the year.

The committee had controversially recommended - after seeking advice from the Attorney General - that trapping of golden plover and song thrush be allowed from October 20 to January 10.

European Commission officials had said, however, that the recommendation to extend trapping for certain species beyond the end of the year could not be accepted if Malta wanted to avoid legal proceedings. According to the officials, the Accession Treaty made it clear that trapping had to stop by the end of this year.

Last Friday the government also announced that golden plovers and song thrushes may be trapped between October 20 and December 31 while hunting on land will be permitted from September 1 to January 31, 2009, two hours before sunrise and two hours after sunset from Monday to Saturday and from two hours before sunrise to 1 p.m. on Sundays and public holidays.

In a statement, the FKNK claimed that the new regulations were unjust and abolitionist. The government's attitude confirmed once again that the Ornis Committee was nothing more than a farce, the hunters said.

The federation warned that it would resist the government's "vindictive" measures and Birdlife's campaigns and it was prepared to resort to legal means. The FKNK said that the legal notice was published at the same time that it was providing Nationalist general secretary Paul Borg Olivier a package with information similar to the one handed to MLP general secretary Jason Micallef earlier in the week.

Birdlife expressed mixed feelings about the new regulations. It expressed disappointment that a trapping season is being permitted for four species that are not included in the list of species that can be trapped until the end of 2008, as had been agreed in the Accession Treaty Agreement. To permit the trapping of turtle dove, quail, golden plover and song thrush was in violation of the agreement and a direct breach of the Birds Directive, which could lead to more infringement procedures, it argued.

On the other hand, it welcomed the hunting ban after 3 p.m. between September 15 and 30.

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