David Lindsay Sunday, 9 October
2016, 09:30 Last update: about 16 days ago
27,500 finches legally put up for
grabs
The government announced on
Friday the opening of the bird trapping season, despite the fact that Malta is
facing legal action by the European Commission over allowing the trapping of
seven species of finch.
The bird trapping season will
open on 20 October and will close on 31 December, according to a Legal Notice
published on Friday.
The government has allowed for
the trapping of a total of 33,200 birds – 27,500 of which are finches. Each
trapping licence holder will be allowed to trap 10 finches during the season,
and six song thrushes or golden plovers – meaning that each trapper will be
allowed a total of 16 birds over the nine-week season.
In September 2015 the European
Commission referred Malta to the European Court of Justice for its decision to
allow finch trapping as of 2014. Malta was allowed a transitional arrangement
in the EU Accession Treaty to phase out finch trapping, taking into account the
time required to establish a captive breeding programme. This transitional
arrangement expired in 2008.
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