The police received 26 reports of illegal hunting in 2017, according to Home Affairs Minister Michael Farrugia.

Replying to parliamentary questions from MP Beppe Fenech Adami, he added that 37 people had been arraigned in court last year.

The number of arraignments seems low compared to previous figures given by Dr 
Farrugia: he said last December that there had been 506 court cases from 2013 to last October, with 81.7 per cent of the trappers and 80.6 per cent of the hunters found guilty.

Read: Most hunting cases end in conviction

The information presented to Parliament last December shows that 87 hunters had their licence suspended. It was revoked for life in the case of another 11. For trappers, 106 had their licence suspended. Six had it revoked for life.

Fines amounting to almost €400,000 were imposed in the period under review.

There are currently 10,517 hunting and 4,534 trapping licences.

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