Trapper Ray Cordina, who pioneered Barn Owl reintroduction project, passes away

One of the hunting lobby’s famed bird trappers, Raymond Cordina, who successfully pioneered the FKNK’s barn owl reintroduction projecy, has passed away. He was 68.

He passed away while at his favourite haunt, in his field next to his trapping site.

Cordina, an ex-Air Malta engineer, was an avid finches trapper who until recently had formed part of FKNK council for a good number of years, during which time he was the main finches’ trappers expert of the council besides pioneering the FKNK’s Barn Owl re-introduction into the wild project.

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In a previous interview with MaltaToday, Cordina was confident that the  FKNK conservation project, the first of its kind to reintroduce an animal species that was hunted to extinction in Malta, would reap the desired results.

The barn owl was driven to extinction from Malta by hunters, with the last recorded breeding pair in the wild harking back to the early 1980s.

Cordina’s reintroduction project was modelled on similar initiatives undertaken by the Barn Owl Trust in the UK.

In Buskett, Cordina built three temporary aviaries next to ir-Razzett tal-Bagħal, a restored farmhouse.

Asked about the irony of having a hunters’ organisation involved in a conservation project, Cordina says that EU directives recognise hunting as a tool for conservation.

“We hunt and trap birds that are allowed at law and this is sustainable. But hunters help preserve the natural habitat by taking care of it and we also ensure it does not turn into blocks of concrete,” Cordina argued.