New, larger mesh nets used by trappers in line with changes to the law are a form of animal cruelty, a magistrate concluded.
The law was changed earlier in the year introducing larger 45mm gauge nets to prevent smaller birds such as protected finches from being caught.
The larger nets were a key factor in the negotiations with the European Commission to allow trapping on two species, the song thrush and the golden plover, just four months after the European Court of Justice declared the practice of finch trapping illegal.
Trappers have opposed the nets, which are intended to prevent smaller birds such as protected finches from being caught.
In a court decree on Wednesday, Magistrate Joseph Mifsud said the new nets were causing serious harm because the holes were large enough for birds, particularly plovers, to partly go through, leading to injuries to the side of the neck and other parts of the animal.
“Once the law allows for live birds to be caught, it must also ensure they are caught with the least damage possible,” the magistrate said in the decree, communicated to Animal Rights Parliamentary Secretary Clint Camilleri, the Ornis Committee chairman and the Wild Birds…
