Night inspections by the Committee Against Bird Slaughter (CABS) identified a total of 40 bird trapping sites used for the illegal night trapping of plovers outside the permitted hours.

The sites were easy to locate as they used illegal bird calling machines which could be heard “from kilometres away", adding that the majority had been active for at least three years, CABS wildlife crime officer Fiona Burrows said.

“After our team found sites with active callers in Burmarrad and Mġarr on December 4 and 5, we called Mosta police who declared that they could not respond as it is the job of the ALE to deal with such cases. However, as ALE don’t work during night hours our reports could not be processed and the poachers were left undisturbed," Ms Burrows said, adding that officers from the Wild Birds Regulation Unit (WBRU) were also unavailable to assist with night operations when requested.

The following night, a joint patrol of CABS staff and ALE officers was organised to dismantle the bird callers and deregister the trapping sites in question.

However, the illegal calling devices had been turned off and no arrests were made – but 24 hours later, when again no ALE officers were on duty, most of the machines were found active again, it said.

CABS called on the government to provide the ALE with enough resources to cope with the problem of illegal night trapping. According to a new legal notice provision, outside permitted trapping hours at least two police officers or marshals should be on duty.

Last week, CABS also reported five persons to the police for illegally offering wild-caught Golden Plovers for sale on a local website.