Trappers have been living a five-year 'ordeal' after an EU exemption that allowed finch capturing expired in 2008, according to Ray Cordina.

“Trappers are often forgotten by politicians and the media because everything is lumped with hunting when the issue is debated,” says Mr Cordina, 59, a former Air Malta engineer and committee member of the hunting federation.

Trappers were granted a limited autumn trapping season for golden plover and song thrush last year and the same will be allowed this year. But the concession does not satisfy trapping enthusiasts like Mr Cordina, who saw his lifelong pastime capturing live finches from the wild come to an abrupt end five years ago.

“For the vast majority of trappers, trapping is not trapping unless it is for finches,” he says with a heavy heart, pointing to discrimination against Maltese trappers in the EU.