Illegally-traded finches, used by trappers to attract birds, have become more expensive as the government considers reopening the trapping season, Times of Malta has learnt.
Trappers contacted by this newspaper confirmed that the black market price of illegally-traded finches, used as live decoys, had more than tripled in recent days.
“Birds, like linnets, were selling for some €20 each not so long ago, now people are asking for at least €75 for a single bird. I have seen the price go up in the past but normally this happens just before the season starts, never so early,” one trapper, who preferred to remain anonymous, said.
The rise comes on the back of a recommendation by the Ornis Committee, the government’s consultative body on hunting, to apply for an EU exemption and reopen the autumn finch trapping season.
This is like not being able to smoke indoors, people shouldn’t do it, but walk into any każin and you’re bound to find someone smoking
Finch trapping has been outlawed in Malta since 2008 in line with the EU’s Wild Birds Directive. The European Commission is pursuing infringement proceedings on the incorrect application of a derogation, which had previously been used to permit the island’s controversial trapping practices.
Trappers contacted by this newspaper said the possibility of legal trapping had already set the wheels in motion for the upcoming season.
“The price of decoy birds, like most black markets, depends on supply and demand. At the moment, the supply is low and the demand has suddenly shot up. By the end of summer, it will probably be even higher, so will the price,” another trapper said.
Mostly male hawfinches, the decoys’ mating calls, are used by trappers to lure in female birds, which then wind up entangled in clap nets.
The singing lures can be legally purchased from pet stores as long as they have been bred in captivity and assigned a government tag.
Despite the possibility of legal purchases, the illegal bird trade in Malta is alive and well. One of the trappers said the illegal birds were often imported from Italy or sold by trappers and illegal breeders.
“This is like not being able to smoke indoors, people shouldn’t do it, but walk into any każin and you’re bound to find someone smoking. This is just reality,” a trapper said.
Last February, the police seized more than 140 illegal birds in a series of raids, including one which uncovered some 45 illegal finches being sold from a pet store back room.
Sources said the illegal importation was necessary to counter the limited supply of birds.
The biggest bird smuggling bust happened in March last year when Customs officers uncovered 551 songbirds in a van returning from Sicily. The birds – hawfinches, green finches and chaffinches – were found in wooden boxes disguised as containers of oranges and limoncello and were being cooled by a makeshift air-conditioning system.
Investigators had said that the smugglers were looking at a nest egg in excess of €27,000, excluding the Sicilian liqueur and fruit.