Finch trappers want their season too

Trappers, worried about whether they will be allowed to trap finches this season, have been reassured that the Ornis committee will meet again very soon to discuss when the finch trapping season will open.

On Monday, the committee recommended to the Environment Minister that the hunting of quail can be permitted between April 1 and May 10 and for turtle dove between April 10 and May 20.

But the trapping season for finches was not on the agenda.

Several trappers have since questioned why the trapping season had not been declared open, once the government and the EU had negotiated that the practice can continue until 2008.

A captive breeding programme was meant to have been introduced in the interim period in order to severely restrict the number of birds trapped from the wild after 2008 and maintain a healthy breeding population.

Trappers are worried that such promises have been forgotten.

"Trapping should be guaranteed until 2008 so there should be no question about whether it would open or not," a trapper told The Times.

Government sources confirmed yesterday the intention to open the spring season for finch trapping. The government was merely waiting for the Ornis recommendation on the dates, the sources said.

A number of NGOs yesterday issued a joint statement against the opening of the spring hunting season.

Moviment Graffitti, Animal Rights Malta, Friends of the Earth, World Animal Conscience, SOS Animals, the Saint Francis Foundation, Animal Rights Group, the National Cats Society and Island Sanctuary expressed concern at the government's position.

"It is unacceptable for the government to open the spring hunting season when the EU made it clear this contravenes the regulations of the Birds Directive and that it is in no way ready to accept such a decision," they said.