Trappers ‘caught in the act’

The Committee Against Bird Slaughter said it had caught four trappers in the illegal act in the space of a week as part of its Operation Safe Passage.

The trappers were filmed in separate incidents and subsequent police controls saw several large trap nets as well as nine live and two artificial bird decoys being seized as evidence.

The open season for hunting and trapping of quail and turtle dove started on September 1. Hunting is banned in the afternoons.

The first trapper was caught in St Thomas’ Bay attempting to attract waders using an illegal bird caller, CABS said. The police were informed and when they went on site they found a 40-metre trapping net. Legal proceedings against the trapper have now begun, the organisation said.

CABS conservationists also found a trapping site near Baħrija in which a trapper was attempting to catch protected dotterel using plastic decoys as well as an electronic device playing the bird’s calls. Footage of the man was passed on to the Administrative Law Enforcement Unit, which searched the site and seized numerous items as evidence.

In another incident, the police ended up in a chase after a man who had been filmed for hours by CABS took off as they approached him at a site near Żurrieq. Five short-toed larks and a red-throated pipit were found, all of which were seized and later released into the wild.

Gozo was the site of another incident, in which a trapper was filmed catching waders over a number of hours. Police officers caught him still in his hut and seized his nets as well as three live dotterel, CABS said.

It added that it had found several shot birds, including a kestrel and a nightjar. Its volunteers also witnessed two honey buzzards and a wader being shot dead south of Girgenti valley.

BirdLife Malta said it witnessed a honey buzzard being shot in Buskett bird sanctuary – one of Malta’s biggest — on Thursday evening after the 3 p.m. hunting ban had passed.

The incident was reported to the police who arrived shortly afterwards and searched the area but they could not find the hunter.

BirdLife added that many raptors were seen coming in to Malta on Thursday evening, some of which were met with gunfire. Widespread illegal shooting in Miżieb, Dingli, Ġebel Ciantar, Qawra, Nadur and Delimara was recorded by the conservation organisation the following morning.

Volunteers from 10 countries have joined BirdLife and CABS conservation camps and will be here until next Sunday seeking to curb illegal bird shooting and trapping. CABS is an international charitable organisation based in Germany.