Updated: CABS film illegal trapper in Gozo

CABS volunteers today caught a bird trapper trapping dotterel birwina with a huge net installation near Sarraflu in Gozo. They said in a statement that a bird guards team filmed a man in a blue T-shirt - probably in his late twenties - activating a clap net and setting out cages containing live decoy birds at around 8.15am. Later, the organisation said that the man was identified and was being questioned by the police. The police, however, denied that this was the case. CABS said that shortly before the arrival of the police the man received a phone call and began to deactivate the nets. As he realised that the officers had almost reached the site, he panicked and fled with the birds in their cages, CABS member Craig Redmond, whose team discovered the site said. “His flight will not rescue him from the long arm of the Maltese law however. We have photos of the man setting his net and with the decoy birds in his hand. Identification should be no problem for the police,” Mr Redmond said. When the police arrived on the site they discovered four 50m long clap nets, a pond and plastic decoys and a single live dotterel in a cage. After a search of over an hour the bird guards found a...