New, larger mesh nets used by trappers in line with changes to the law are a form of animal cruelty, a magistrate concluded.
The law was changed earlier in the year introducing larger 45mm gauge nets to prevent smaller birds such as protected finches from being caught.
The larger nets were a key factor in the negotiations with the European Commission to allow trapping on two species, the song thrush and the golden plover, just four months after the European Court of Justice declared the practice of finch trapping illegal.
Trappers have opposed the nets, which are intended to prevent smaller birds such as protected finches from being caught.
In a court decree on Wednesday, Magistrate Joseph Mifsud said the new nets were causing serious harm because the holes were large enough for birds, particularly plovers, to partly go through, leading to injuries to the side of the neck and other parts of the animal.
“Once the law allows for live birds to be caught, it must also ensure they are caught with the least damage possible,” the magistrate said in the decree, communicated to Animal Rights Parliamentary Secretary Clint Camilleri, the Ornis Committee chairman and the Wild Birds Regulation Unit.
“One understands that the legislator's intention was to minimise abuse by making it difficult to catch small birds but if abuse is to be cut down, surveillance has to be increased,” he added.
The decree was delivered ahead of a judgment in which a man accused of illegal trapping was cleared of all charges.
The magistrate’s comments prompted a harsh response from Birdlife CEO Mark Sultana who told the Times of Malta the remarks were “unfounded” and “totally inappropriate” given the mesh size had been agreed between the government and Brussels.
He said Birdlife would be taking up the issue with the Commission for the Administration of Justice.
“While the law courts’ important role in society remains to listen to fair cases and judge according to the facts provided, it should always keep at arms’ length from any controversial and, possibly, political topics. Magistrate Mifsud has not done this and has risked his position as being seen as an unbiased person of integrity, as every magistrate should be,” Mr Sultana said.
He reiterated Birdlife’s position against any form of wild bird trapping, in line with the Birds Directive.
Mark Mifsud Bonnici, president of the hunters’ group Kaċċaturi San Ubertu, said trappers had been aware of the potential of the larger nets to cause harm and had raised the issue in discussions with the European Commission.
“I do not see why this has been imposed upon Malta when countries like France trap larger birds such as the wood pigeon and use much smaller nets,” he said. “What we suspect is that the 45mm requirement is a misinterpretation of how the net size should be calculated.”
Nationalist MEP candidate Peter Agius said on Wednesday the magistrate’s ‘opinion’ showed the government’s derogation had been carried out “carelessly and without consultation with experts or trappers themselves.