Protected finches traded at the Valletta Bird Market – Birdlife Malta
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Birdlife Malta anounced that a recent surveillance operation carried out by BirdLife Malta at the Valletta Bird Market has shown that the illegal trade in wild birds continues to be carried out by a number of traders operating openly in the middle of Malta’s capital city.
BirdLife said that they had covertly filmed and reported the illegal sale of wild birds at the Valletta Market to the police last year, following which a number of individuals were apprehended during a joint operation by the ALE and MEPA.
BirdLife Malta continued by saying that this year once again filmed several traders openly selling un-ringed wild caught birds. The traders were selling wild-caught finches, namely Greenfinches, Hawfinches, Chaffinches, Linnets, Serin and Siskin, and in several cases had large numbers of these birds for sale. Under national legislation trapping of finches and also selling of wild caught birds are forbidden.
“This illegal activity is taking place openly and with no attempt at concealment, indicating that the traders have no fear of being caught by the authorities,” stated Dr. Andre Raine, BirdLife Malta Conservation Manager.
BirdLife also reported that some traders were fitting fake rings on the legs of wild caught birds in an attempt to pass them off as birds bred in captivity.
“At several stalls in the market, birds were seen with ill-fitting rings which were too large for their legs. These rings appeared to be easily removable; something which is impossible if the bird was ringed legally with closed rings as a captive bred chick,” continued Dr Raine.
Footage of the illegal trade has been passed on to the ALE to help with investigations. This footage was not released by BirdLife Malta until after an ALE investigation into the BirdLife report, which according to the police led to a successful raid on the market at the end of November.
BirdLife Malta has also received reports of several pet stores selling wild caught birds illegally and these reports have also been passed on to the police.
Photo: A screengrab from the footage taken during the covert operation, showing rows of caged wild finches being offered for sale at the Valletta market.
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