Malta – 19. 09. 2024

Justice for birds - End of trapping on Malta?

19.09.2024

In a landmark ruling, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) today declared the trapping of seven finch species in Malta, to be illegal – a practice which has been criticised by Committee Against Bird Slaughter (CABS) for years. According to the judges in Luxembourg, the practice clearly violates Article 9 of the EU Birds Directive and may no longer be authorised. The proceedings before the ECJ are the premature conclusion of a long-running dispute between bird conservationists and the Maltese Labour Government, which has repeatedly tried to circumvent the Birds Directive in recent years in order to secure the votes of bird trappers. 

The "Courthouse News" has published a worth redaing article about the sentence: EU’s top court clips wings on Malta finch trapping