Malta – 16. 10. 2025

Bird trapper sentenced for illegal practices

CABS welcome conviction, publish 11-year court statistic

Malta. Last week the Law Court in Valletta delivered the sentence in the case against a bird trapper from Mgarr who was caugh trapping finches during the closed season in September 2022. He was handed a fine of 2.000 Euros and his trapping licence was revoked for three years.

CABS, whose staff members testified as witnesses, welcomed the conviction and praised the police for taking the case to court. Today, the organisation published the results of 347 court proceedings against poachers who were reported by CABS between 2014 and 2024. Out of more than 1.000 reports the police brought a total of 347 cases to court for prosecution. These included 298 cases of illegal trapping, 34 hunting-related cases and 15 others such as illegal posession and sale of protected species . The court proceedings resulted in 217 convictions and 63 acquittals. The remaining 67 cases are mostly still ongoing (36) or their result is unknown (23). Four cases were canceled because the defendant died before a judgement was delivered. Four others were barred by the statute of limitations.

Following the 217 convictions the courts imposed various sanctions including imprisonment, fines, the revocation of hunting and trapping licences as well as the confiscation of shotguns, nets, traps, bird callers and other live-capturing equipment worth tens of thousands of Euros. In addition to this several thousands of live protected birds were seized from the accused and subsequently released. All fines imposed add up to a total amount of more than 300.000 Euros which the convicted poachers had to pay to the Courts of Justice. CABS underlined that – despite being summoned as witnesses more than 250 times – its staff and volunteers never received nor requested any form of witness expenses.

CABS also highlighted the fact that these figures do not include cases reported by local NGO´s such as BirdLife Malta or the Ranger´s Unit. „These results are underlining once more the important role of NGOs in the protection of Malta´s natural heritage and rule of law“ CABS president Karl-Heinz Kreutzer said adding that in an ideal world all these convictions should be the result of proper and proactive police work. „Unfortunately and in contrast to our teams the EPU (formerly ALE) have never been allowed to work in plain clothes and most units lack sufficient equipment for long-range observations. Members of the EPU are also still not allowed to work on Gozo or during night hours which makes it impossible for the officers to take proper action against mushrooming illegal bird callers or night-trapping of protected species. Conceding that the government does not want to provide the police with the necessary resources and – much more important – honest political backup poachers will continue to profit from this and illegal practices will persist“, Kreutzer concluded.