The Hunting Federation (FKNK) has denied allegations from Birdlife that the autumn trapping derogation is being abused by trappers catching finches.

Conservation NGO Birdlife said last week that trappers were exploiting their exemption to trap golden plover and song thrush to also trap finches.

FKNK pointed out that the 1,100 or so trappers who applied for the special trapping licence had to produce a map of two trapping sites, duly registered with the police. 

“No trapper is so stupid as to jeopardise his situation and try to abuse any legal system... (when) the trapper himself has already disclosed his geographical position to the authorities,” the FKNK said in a statement.

Secondly, the methods used for the trapping of golden plover and song thrush are not the same as those used for live-finch capturing, the Hunting Federation added. 

The 30mm-squared net mesh commonly used to trap the two species covered by the derogation is too wide to entangle finches, according to the FKNK.  

The FKNK praised the police for enforcing the derogation.

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