Illegal finch trapping has made a "huge comeback" since the season was reopened last month, conservationists warned on Tuesday, adding that trappers were now wearing masks to avoid prosecution.    

German NGO Committee Against Bird Slaughter said that during three weeks of field investigations from October 20 to November 7, ornithologists had documented and reported 65 cases of illegal bird trapping involving at least 78 individuals. 

Around 20 trappers, the NGO said, had been identified and were expected to be taken to court.

"These are only those few cases our field team was able to expose and report. Taking into account the usual dark figures it seems safe to assume that several hundred persons have been involved in criminal bird trapping activity on Malta and Gozo this autumn alone," CABS spokesman Axel Hirschfeld said.

The Sunday Times of Malta this week reported government experts fears that Brussels could soon move to outlaw bird trapping once and for all because of the hunting community’s reluctance to obey the rules.

Sources in the Environment Ministry said that months of high-level negotiations between Malta and the European Commission to secure the return of the controversial autumn bird trapping season could all have been in vain, as a spike in arrests has already caught the European Commission's eye.

Meanwhile, CABS said that in the vast majority of cases, Maltese government officials were not available to identify and document the birds being found by the police on illegal finch trapping sites.

It added that although 124 live decoys used for illegal finch trapping were confiscated in the last three weeks, this only happened when the poacher was not caught by police.

Among the recent arrests was one trapper, found with 200 illegally caught birds.

When the trapper was caught on site by police the live finch decoys were left in the possession of the poachers.

"This is a massive step back compared to times when it was standard procedure for all specimens on site to be seized, documented by technical experts and held as evidence until a final court decision,” CABS Wildlife Crime Officer Fiona Burrows said.

The conservation NGO also pointed to a new phenomenon of poachers who tried to cover their faces with masks and balaclavas to avoid being identified by the police.

“The government knew that poachers would misuse the new regulations as a cover up for illegal operations but decided to do nothing to prevent the massive wildlife-crime-boom we see now. As the central political figure responsible for this fiasco we urge Parliamentary Secretary Clint Camilleri to take responsibility and either close the trapping season or step down," Mr Hirschfeld said.