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maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 30 APRIL 2014 3 News Illegal bird trap dismantled in Gozo New illegalities reported in Gozo during ongoing spring hunting season MIRIAM DALLI A "massive" illegal cage trap instal- lation at Ghasri valley in Gozo was dismantled by the police, the Cam- paign Against Bird Slaughter said yesterday, finding 11 birds recently caught, inside the cage. The cage trap was spotted by CABS volunteers who immediately alerted the Administrative Law En- forcement officials, who were joined by the Armed Forces of Malta in a joint patrol to deactivate the trap. According to the birdwatchers, the trap was nearly eight cubic metres in size and the birds were confis- cated by the authorities. The turtle doves have been taken to Malta for rehabilitation. They will be released at the end of the hunting season. "The Turtle Dove is one of Eu- rope's most threatened farmland birds. It is extremely satisfying to know that these eleven birds will soon be f lying in the wild again," CABS team leader Craig Redmond said. Early on Monday morning a CABS team filmed two young hunters hunting too close to a residential area in Xewkija, Gozo. Both men have been identified by the police and will be taken to court. In a separate incident on the same day, a CABS patrol car was blocked in by a hunter near Qala. The hunter allegedly approached the birdwatchers, violently shouting and swearing and pushing a female CABS member from Scotland. "The man then threatened to kill the team leader of the CABS patrol but luckily the group managed to escape from the situation. Shortly after- wards, the same hunter stopped the CABS members as they were driv- ing in Nadur and again threatened to kill them, swearing at the team leader to 'go back to his own coun- try', not only a violent death threat but also a racial slur," CABS said. Both incidents were reported to the Victoria police station whose officers identified and summoned the aggressor. The hunter admitted to the charges and described him- self as being "frustrated" because he did not manage to shoot a Turtle Dove that morning. After the man had apologised to the CABS team, the birdwatchers abstained from pressing charges against him for the time being. "We told him that if any of our team members on Gozo are at- tacked or harassed again he will have to stand trial. It is now in his own interest to convince his hunt- ing friends to let us work in peace in ensuring that birds can continue safely on their migration," Red- mond said. CABS also said a local birdwatch- er confronted a hunter carrying a shotgun in the valley below Ta' Gajdoru, in the Ramla Bay area, on Monday evening four hours after the 2pm curfew. When the hunter realised that he was being watched he run off before the police arrived at the scene. Democracy, not backroom deals on hunting says AD PRIME Minister Joseph Muscat was yesterday reported to not have ruled out the possibility of chang- ing the abrogative referendum law, to block a referendum on spring hunting, as has been proposed by the hunters' federation FKNK. The spring hunting season closes today. Asked whether his govern- ment was actually considering changing the law as the hunters had demanded, Muscat said he would wait for a petition by the hunters asking for a change in the law and we will see. "However, this is not a question of law. I think that the leader of the Opposition is abstaining again on this issue. My position is clearly in favour of spring hunting." Green party Alternattiva Demokratika said that it was "crys- tal clear" that both Labour and the PN prefer backroom deals when dealing with the hunting lobby. "The Labour Party has posi- tioned itself clearly in favour of spring hunting and against the basic principles of biodiversity. The Nationalist Party is still try- ing to have a foot on each side of the fence. It remains as spineless as ever," AD deputy chairperson Car- mel Cacopardo said. "Backroom deals are anything but democratic. They are a nega- tion of democracy itself. The pro- cedures to call an abrogative refer- endum are, in the current state of affairs, the only democratic tool left to contest the spring hunting season." The petition to make a referen- dum on spring hunting impossible, as proposed by the FKNK, was de- scribed by Cacopardo an affront to the democratic process. "In the coming days or maybe weeks we will know whether La- bour will give the public a reply on whether it is a democratic gov- ernment or not. Its position on the proposal to block the legitimate and democratic curtail the refer- endum process will be such a reply. The issue at stake is much more than spring hunting: it is either the democratic process or backroom deals." A petition signed by over 45,000 voters is being inspected by the Electoral Commission before it is presented in court for the proposal of an abrogative referendum to be held on the matter of spring hunt- ing. Spring hunting is banned by EU law, but Malta applies a derogation from the law for a limited spring hunting to hunt Turtle Dove and Quail. But critics claim the season opens up the chance for poaching and the hunting of illegal quarry like birds of prey and the trapping of songbirds. Turtle Doves in captivity Employment is best social policy – Busuttil

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