Police seize 300 finches smuggled from Italy, birds released back into the wild

Around 300 wild finches from a Gozo property have been confiscated by the Wild Birds Regulation Unit and the Gozo police.

The birds are believed to have been smuggled into the country from Italy to be used as live decoys for illegal bird trapping.

Probably trapped illegally in Italy, these birds were destined to be sold amongst local trappers and from different pet shops.

The confiscated birds included five different species: European Serin, European Goldfinch, European Greenfinch, Common Linnet and Common Chaffinch, the majority of which were juvenile birds, kept in very poor conditions, crammed in tiny cages.

All birds were handed over to BirdLife Malta for rehabilitation, ringing and release following clearance and treatment by vets.

The bust follows an invite from WBRU itself to trappers to apply for another season under the so-called ‘research derogation’ on finches – a derogation from the EU’s ban on finch trapping which BirdLife accuses of being “a smokescreen to the continued illegal trapping of wild finches”.

The research derogation is already the subject of an infringement procedure initiated by the European Commission against Malta. Trapping of such wild birds creates a huge demand for live decoy birds and illegal smugglers in networks between Italy and Malta oblige to the demand created by the derogation itself.

The ORNIS Committee is expected to formally decide on this year’s derogation on 13 October.

Brussels is taking action against Malta for allowing spring hunting without proper enforcement, as well as reopening a banned trapping season under the pretext of “scientific research”. The European Commission told Malta that its derogation from the EU ban on the trapping of finches, ostensibly on research purposes, circumvents the judgment of the Court of Justice of the EU.

This is one of two infringement procedures against Malta, which reopened the trapping season despite an order from the European Court of Justice, “in similar conditions as before this ruling, even if under a different regime.”

Malta recently authorised finch trapping for research purposes, after having authorised finch trapping for recreational purposes for several years, an action which was found to be non-compliant with the Birds Directive by the Court of Justice of the EU. Malta has also derogated from the EU ban on the spring hunting of quail every year since 2011 and derogations for autumn live-capturing of song thrush and golden plover each year since 2012.

“These derogations fall short systematically of the requirements set out in the legislation, related in particular to poor supervision of the conditions set out in the derogations, which results in other species than those targeted being affected,” the Commission said.

“Relying on insufficient or inaccurate information about the populations of wild birds and the available alternatives, Malta also failed to fulfil the basic conditions for granting such derogations. Not least, the high numbers of wild birds illegally shot in Malta constitute a major and systemic failure to establish a general system of protection as required by Article 5 of the Birds Directive.”

Malta claims its derogations are in conformity with the Birds Directive and that it even has a higher system of enforcement beyond that demanded by the European Commission itself. Malta insists that the EC itself requested amendments to the laws for Malta to confirm with the ECJ decision on trapping of Golden Plover and Song Thrush; and that the 2009 Court of Justice decision has declared that “there is no other solution to the hunting of pigeons [turtle dove] and quail in Malta.”