Appeals Court acquits FKNK council members

Officials of the Federation for Hunting & Conservation - Malta (FKNK) have been acquitted by the Court of Criminal Appeal from charges of breaching bird-ringing regulations, the FKNK said.

The officials had been already acquitted last November by the Magistrates' Court. The police had instituted the initial charges on the request of a BirdLife Malta report.

BirdLife had alleged that the releasing of marked birds by FKNK amounted to a breach of bird-ringing regulations.

The issue started during a presentation to the Prime Minister and to the Leader of the Opposition of a dossier regarding the capturing of wild birds using nets.

Since part of the dossier was based on compensatory measures principles, after the press conference the FKNK put back into the wild over 100 marked linnets, 3 marked song thrushes, 4 marked turtle doves and a marked golden plover. The FKNK also made a symbolic donation of a further 28 marked linnets and 2 marked serins to the government's Ghammieri Captive Breeding Project a week later.

The FKNK had collected wild birds that had been legally caught by several trappers.

The FKNK said the trappers had every right to keep the birds as their possession in captivity, but they handed them to FKNK in the full knowledge that after being marked the birds they would be released into the wild. BirdLife claimed that this action was illegal and sought legal redress against the FKNK Council Members, the FKNK said.

It added that BirdLife Malta's interest in holding on to its local privileged bird-ringing monopoly was evident during both cases through the presence of their Executive Director, Tolga Temuge who also took the witness stand.