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€0.90 WWW.MALTATODAY.COM.MT WEDNESDAY EDITION WEDNESDAY • 23 APRIL 2014 • ISSUE 361 • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY Newspaper post Editorial - PAGE 11 CABS find 72 illegal bird callers, police apprehend 24 offenders JURGEN BALZAN HUNTERS installed an estimated three-figure number of illegal elec- tronic lures for Quail and protect- ed waders in the Maltese country- side, the Committee Against Bird Slaughter (CABS) said yesterday. During the last four nights volun- teers of the organisation conduct- ed spot checks in all five statistical districts of Malta. According to CABS, whose vol- unteers are monitoring the spring hunting season in Malta, a total of 72 devices were located at Ramla Bay, the Red Tower, Selmun Pal- ace, Maghtab, Ta' San Pietru, Ta' Benniena, Ta' Qali, San Martin, Ta' Mrejnu, Wardija, Golden Bay, Mgarr, Gnejna Bay, Ta' Santi, Vic- toria Lines, Tal-Abatija, Dwejra Lines, Fomm Ir-Rih, Wied Rini Radio Station, Irdum Tal-Vigarju, Mtahleb, Fiddien, Dingli Cliffs, Buskett, Tal Virtù, Gebel Ciantar, Fawwara, Has Saptan, Zurrieq, Ghar Lapsi, Hal-Farrug, Gudja and the Delimara peninsula. "As our survey only covered a small part of the island the number of callers heard by our teams is only a small percentage of the true figure. A realistic guess would be in the low hundreds," CABS Op- erations Officer Axel Hirschfeld said. CABS added that the police were called several times but did not manage to confiscate a single de- vice. "The fact that such a large- scale illegality goes unpunished is absolutely irreconcilable with any zero tolerance policy or strict su- pervision which is one of the con- ditions of the derogation for spring hunting." According to article 8 of the Eu- ropean Birds Directive the use of bird callers is regarded as a method used for the illegal mass killing of birds. "The problem is that the ALE is not on duty before 5am and the lo- cal police do not seem to be willing or able to deal with the situation," CABS said. The NGO said that it would nev- ertheless provide the ALE with a detailed map of locations from where the bird callers can be heard. According to CABS each unit is composed of a loudspeaker, a large battery for power supply, a bird caller which imitates the court- ship songs of the Quail and a timer which activates the pre-recorded bird calls in the night. Photo showing two hunters who shot three birds each near Buskett on Saturday 'PN scraping bottom of the barrel' says PM on abortion talk PRIME Minister Joseph Muscat has used his own track record in the European Parliament as the "guarantee" that he and the government are firmly against abortion. "My track record in the European Parliament is the proof that I am categorically against abor- tion. The last politician to beat about the bush on the issue was [European Commissioner] Tonio Borg during his EP hearing," the Prime Minister said. Addressing the press right after visiting a family in Isla, Muscat accused the Nationalist Opposition of "scraping the bottom of the bar- rel" in an attempt at invoking abortion as a pos- sibility under a Labour government. CONTINUES ON PAGE 2 CONTINUES ON PAGE 4 So long then, don't forget to shut the door behind After Moyes, what next? SPORTS pg22 After Moyes, After Moyes, what next? what next? SPORTS SPORTS pg22 pg22 Muscat (third from left) yesterday met a family in Senglea as part of the European election campaign