Inside a trapper's mind

Having campaigned for better bird protection for many years, Natalino Fenech speaks to Tony Zarb to see what's in a trapper's mind.

There are many bird trappers who are enthusiastic about their pastime. But surely no one is keener than Tony Zarb. Thirty-three-year-old Mr Zarb hails from Gharghur but now lives in Dingli, and has been surrounded by birds in cages and nests since childhood.

His life revolves around birds in a way that many would find it difficult to believe. He sold a bus to be able to buy a tract of land where he can trap birds. He now runs a taxi service, but works only in summer. Come September, and birds would be on his mind all the time, till the end of May, with a brief interval during the closed season in February.

From September till the end of January, Mr Zarb would be engrossed trapping finches. And up till last year, golden plover. In March of last year, he trapped finches and in April and May turtle doves.

Speaking to him earlier this week reminded me of George Tabone, a Gozitan trapper who lost his trapping licence in 1936 because he forgot to renew it. He had petitioned the Governor saying: "Since I can no longer snare birds, life for me is not worth living".

Mr Zarb said: "I just can't think of what will happen to me after 2008, when trapping will most probably be stopped. It's already difficult being unable to trap birds in March as linnets were my favourite birds".

Even though he is a Nationalist Party councillor in Dingli, Mr Zarb feels betrayed by the party.

"We were promised that virtually nothing will change. The change is far bigger than anyone expected, because we were led to believe we would still be able to trap in March and now that's over. We were also told that after 2008 trapping would still be possible, but that too is in serious doubt now," he said.

He knows that whoever is in government will not be able to do anything for trappers because EU rules basically forbid it.

"I can't see any alternative. Perhaps we can try to do as trappers in Holland have done and become ringers. But the idea of trapping birds to release them would not go down well with many trappers. For the time being, I can't see myself doing it either, but one never knows," he says.

For a very brief spell, Mr Zarb used to hunt, but he laid down his gun a long time ago. "I have nothing against hunters, as everybody has his pastime. But for me, killing a bird does not make sense. On many occasions I saw rare birds like ospreys and storks I could have killed but I am just not interested. For me, nothing beats catching a bird alive," he says.

Like most trappers, Mr Zarb says that birds are better off in cages, where they can find food, water and shelter at any time. He dodges the issue that birds lack freedom and argues that "no one is free".

"I know it's hard to believe, but my mind does not function well during the migration period. I am impatient. Birds are the only thing I can think about. I can't think clearly and I can't sleep properly.

"If you look at the accident profile when I was a bus driver, you'd realise that most of mine were in October.

"In one instance, some 18 years ago, I was on the Valletta-Cirkewwa route. I was doing the 8.10 a.m. trip and at about 8.50 a.m., when I drove up the hill leading to the road to Marfa, I saw eight linnets flying overhead. One side of the bus hit a wall. I recall asking the passengers to disembark and they boarded another bus and I walked around, found a trapper and spent the day next to him, leaving the bus perched on the wall.

"Before I bought the new bus, I used to work for six months a year and garage the bus during the trapping season as it was possible to do that. When I bought the new bus, we had to work according to the roster. We had 38 days leave as we worked day in, day out. That gave me some time for trapping, but it was not enough. Each time I did not report for work I used to have Lm35 a day struck off my pay cheque. I can't tell you how many days I missed work but I lost a lot of money.

"Then I decided to sell the bus and bought a tract of land at Dingli cliffs which is the best site for linnets anywhere in Malta. It cost me a fortune but I wanted to buy it. This is my life and we only live once."

During the trapping season, he is there before dawn and will be the last one out in pitch darkness.

"You can spend three whole weeks and you catch nothing or very few birds, but you know there will be a day when you will catch more. Usually I catch about 100 birds between September and May. Last year was poor, because between October and January I caught 64 birds in all. The last week of October and first week of November are usually the best. But there are some years when there are influxes of certain birds and you can catch many more. But not all trappers catch as many as I do because few persevere and dedicate so much time, and some of them don't have good trapping sites," he explains.

The extent of his craving to trap birds can be seen by the number of trapping sites he has - 24 in all - and he chooses the ones best suited to the winds and weather at the time. In his garage, there are 60 pairs of nets, and he's mending, adjusting and repairing them all the time. In one of the sites, he can activate up to nine sets of nets spread over a large area from just one hiding place.

"Some sites are more suited for certain species of bird. In one I might trap linnets, another might be more favoured by serins. The lure of trapping for me is to construct your trapping site well and weed out any defects. The second is to rear birds to have good decoys and the biggest sensation is to understand what birds want so that you can trap them. You can't make the slightest of mistakes as the approaching bird would dart past your nets and leave you empty handed," he says.

Though he's caught and handled countless birds since he has been trapping on his own from the age of 11, his eyes light up when asked about his first success.

"It was a female chaffinch. I can still see her, diving to the netting site, lured by my decoys. But linnets are my favourites. Pick any cage you like and I'll tell you the story of every bird, how the wind was blowing, where I caught it, and its movements."

"Birds are very unpredictable. When I used to trap at Gharghur, we had good sites along the valley. I recall one instance nine years ago in October where I was with seven cousins. We must have been covering a stretch of about one kilometre with nets. I caught 13 birds, my uncle Leli caught 19, Charles caught six, Fidiel caught six and uncle Paul, who is now dead, caught seven. The other four did not catch a single bird."

Mr Zarb does not trade in birds but keeps whatever he catches. "I may give some away to friends," he says. At the moment, he has close to 500 at home.

He is also very fond of trapping golden plover and turtle dove.

"We used to trap plovers in autumn, but we can't do that any more because it is now illegal to catch a plover with the net, but plovers can be shot, which shows just how stupid regulations can be. One can shoot, injure or maim a plover and keep it alive after that, but you can't catch it using a net," he argues.

When told that the Birds Directive forbids trapping, Mr Zarb replies: "Then one has to work to change it. I have no problem advocating changes to our practices but trapping is in our culture and our blood. People find it strange to hear that we love birds," he says.

Posters issued by the Malta Ornithological Society, now Birdlife, line the walls of one of the rooms he has in one of the sites.

"There is a big divide between us and Birdlife. But birds are the common factor. They like to see them, we like to catch them. They catch them too, to put a ring around their legs and study them. I believe we can assist them in that as we don't trap every bird. The time has come to start building bridges. No one knows how many birds are killed by pesticides and cats and traffic on a daily basis. I admit that by taking birds from nature we are not helping populations to increase, but I believe the number we catch is insignificant. I invite anyone to come and sit next to me to see how many birds we catch and to see the effort that goes into it. I am sure that many would change their mind," he says.

Driving back to Dingli from one of his trapping sites, Mr Zarb stops to speak to a bus driver and asks him to wait a few minutes as he saw tourists walking towards the bus stop from Dingli Cliffs. It may be a small gesture, but it makes you realise that there is another side to Mr Zarb too.