The Animal Rights Coalition, made up of 23 NGOs, clarified that there was never any mention of a trapping derogation during its meeting with the Parliamentary Secre-tary for Animal Rights, Roderick Galdes.

The meeting the coalition had with Mr Galdes took place before the comments he gave to Times of Malta on the possibility of exploring a technical loophole with the aim of applying a derogation to allow the trapping of wild birds in autumn.

While this was not one of the issues discussed at the meeting, the coalition stressed that it still felt in duty bound to voice its concern after the media reports.

“The coalition believes all animals, including birds, have the right to live freely as nature intended,” it said.

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