A petition to allow finch trapping this autumn will today be tabled in Parliament by Labour MP Michael Falzon on behalf of the hunters' and trappers' federation.

The Federation of Hunting and Conservation, which thanked Mr Falzon for his help, said the document was signed by federation president Joseph Buttigieg and bore the signatures of 8,237 individuals.

It states that despite the government's many promises before Malta's joining the EU, trapping was not permitted last autumn. This when the country's treaty did not indicate that such a measure would be taken and when Malta could have applied a derogation from the EU's directive.

The petition therefore asked all MPs to "seriously consider all possible paths, including the several suggestions and proposals already made by the FKNK, so that the suffering through which Maltese and Gozitan trappers had to go through last year will end".

Finch trapping was banned last year because the five-year transition period for the phasing out of the practice, agreed upon with the EU during Malta's accession negotiations, expired in 2008.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.