Alternattiva Demokratika – The Green Party expressed its concerns on the opening of finch trapping season following the application of a derogation.

Simon Galea, AD Spokesperson Agriculture & Animal Welfare, said: “Malta’s reputation is once again being tarnished through the opening of finch trapping season with a national bag limit of over 23,000 song birds. Instead of promoting nature appreciation and catering for proper legal frameworks in this regard, the Maltese Government prefers to challenge EU policies and legislation by going counter to the EU Birds Directive and even ignoring formal warnings by the same EU Commission. Thousands of song birds will be taken from the wild and locked up in tiny cages for the rest of their life thanks to the go ahead given by Parliamentary Secretary responsible for Animal Welfare, Roderick Galdes.”

AD Chairperson, Prof. Arnold Cassola, said: “AD is in favour of promoting country walks and eco tourism, which also means attracting thousands of bird watchers to our country. The influx of a few thousand birdwatchers would have a very healthy impact on the Maltese economy. Instead we are also being faced with the absurd destruction of our flora through the clearing of vegetation by 4,600 trappers in over 8000 trapping sites, a sustainable number of which can be found in Natura 2000 sites.”