The Committee Against Bird Slaughter (CABS) has urged the Maltese government to immediately close the trapping season for golden plovers after its teams witnessed massive abuse in the last nights.

The infringements include the extensive use of illegal bird callers, night trapping outside the permitted hours, contravening the reporting requirement for trapped birds, as well as the illegal sale of wild-caught golden plovers on maltapark.com.

CABS said that in the last weeks its office received more than a dozen reports from members of the public complaining about loud bird callers used for illegal hunting and trapping.

These reports were confirmed by CABS teams who mapped 35 locations from where illegal bird callers for golden plovers could be heard.

“Nearly all of the devices are being used on registered trapping sites and can be heard from kilometres away,” CABS wildlife crime officer Fiona Burrows said.

The highest densities of active sites were located around Siġġiewi, Delimara, St Thomas Bay, Mġarr, Baħrija, Qrendi, Rabat, Fiddien, Burmarrad, Magħtab, Safi, Żurrieq and in San Lawrenz and the Ta’ Ċenċ plateau. 

The NGO also published a video documenting illegal night trapping of golden plovers. The footage, filmed with a thermal imaging device shows trappers sitting in their hides and waiting for birds in the middle of the night, when all trapping and hunting is banned.

“Our investigations have shown that most often the large sites are being manned 24/7 to trap a maximum number of birds. In contrast to golden plovers, who are most active during night hours, Administrative Law Enforcement officers, the police unit responsible for enforcing trapping regulations, only worked during the day.

This massive lack of enforcement during peak time for plover trapping was the opposite of the strict supervision promised by Malta to the European Commission to justify its controversial trapping derogation,” CABS press officer Axel Hirschfeld said.

He pointed out that plovers trapped outside the permitted hours were not being reported to the WBRU which is supposed to close the season when the official quota of 700 trapped birds was reached.

This limitation and the strict supervision were the two key conditions for a derogation under the EU´s Birds’ Directive. But instead of enforcing these regulations the government was taking the EU for a ride and hoped to get away with it, Mr Hirschfeld said, adding that CABS had been highlighting the problem of zero police control during night hours for years to no avail.

CABS said its teams would continue to monitor plover trapping and record illegalities and the lack of enforcement until the closure of the season in January.

The results of the investigation would be used as evidence in a complaint for an alleged breach of EU law by Malta, as well as to provide evidence for court proceedings against the owners of the trapping sites.

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