Bird trapper convicted in Malta: victory against poaching
Last week, the court in Valletta delivered an important ruling in the fight against illegal bird trapping: a bird trapper from Mgarr was fined 2,000 euros for catching finches during the closed season in September 2022 and received a three-year trapping ban.
The Campaign Against Bird Slaughter (CABS), whose staff appeared as witnesses, explicitly welcomed the conviction and praised the police for their consistent work.
"It is an important signal that illegal practices will not go unpunished," said CABS President Karl-Heinz Kreutzer.
In parallel, CABS published a comprehensive analysis of the past eleven years: between 2014 and 2024, the organisation reported 1’000 cases of illegal hunting– and trapping practices, of which 347 cases were actually brought to court. These included 298 proceedings for illegal trapping, 34 related to hunting violations, and 15 cases of illegal possession or trade of protected species.
Of the 347 proceedings, 217 resulted in convictions, 63 defendants were acquitted, and 67 proceedings are either still pending or their outcome is unknown. Four proceedings were discontinued because the defendants died before the verdict was delivered; in a further four cases, the statute of limitations had expired.
The sanctions were varied: in addition to fines totalling over 300,000 euros, custodial sentences were imposed, hunting and trapping licences were revoked, and shotguns, nets, traps and other trapping devices were confiscated. Thousands of living protected birds were thus rescued and released back into the wild. Despite their intensive involvement, CABS staff and volunteers have never received or requested witness compensation.
CABS emphasizes that these figures represent only part of the problem, as reports from local NGOs such as BirdLife Malta or the Ranger's Unit are not included. Kreutzer underlines the central role of NGOs in protecting Malta's natural heritage:
In an ideal world, all these convictions should be achieved through proactive police work. Unfortunately, EPU (formerly ALE) officers face severe restrictions: they are not permitted to work in plainclothes, lack adequate equipment for surveillance operations, and are not allowed to operate on Gozo or at night. Without political support and sufficient resources, poachers will continue to profit.
The conviction of the bird trapper from Mgarr is a small but significant step in the fight against illegal bird trapping. Nevertheless, the 11-year statistics show that the protection of Malta's native bird life still depends heavily on civil society engagement — and that state structures remain far short of the necessary measures.
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