Why it’s a tough life for lynx in Estonia and finches in Malta

Date: 09/10/2003

Despite EU laws on the protection of habitats and species, a deal was struck allowing two of the accession countries to maintain their hunting traditions, writes David Cronin

LYNX in Estonia and finches in Malta have unwittingly become political animals.

During the tortuous negotiations with the ten countries due to join the EU next May, the European Commission insisted that the Union's laws on protecting habitats and species had to be transplanted in their entirety into the incoming states' statute books.

But it eventually succumbed to demands for two important concessions.

Estonians were given permission to hunt lynx, even though the species was included among those requiring special protection under the Council of Europe's 1982 Bern Convention.

Estonia, which accounts for a seventh of the continent's 7,000 lynx population, argued during its accession negotiations with the Commission that it needed to prevent numbers from soaring out of control. Under a deal reached shortly before last December's Copenhagen EU summit, it was agreed that lynx may be hunted in the Baltic state for five years after its accession ie until May 2009.

More controversially, Malta was granted a derogation from the EU's 1979 directive on wild birds to placate its field sports lobby.

This allowed hunting during the spring for such species as turtle dove and quail, as well as shooting during the autumn of an additional 30 bird varieties, including the skylark, woodcock and song thrush. And it also permitted trapping of finches - to breed them in captivity - for five years after Valetta's accession.

The two political rivals in Malta - the Nationalist Party and Labour Party - have both been loath to upset hunters. Because elections on the Mediterranean island invariably have a photo-finish outcome - with 7,000-18,000 votes separating the two parties - neither wishes to alienate bird-shooting aficionados.

Birds are the main quarry of Malta's 12,500 licensed hunters. To try and secure their votes, for example, the ruling Nationalist Party recently decided to lower the legal minimum age for hunting from 21 to 18.

Tellingly, there have been claims that hunters generally voted 'No' to the EU in Malta's referendum earlier this year despite the concessions, as they fear Brussels wishes to clamp down on something they consider a birthright.

"The unity of the Union is a good idea," says Lino Farrugia, secretary of the Maltese Federation for Hunting and Conservation (FKNK).

"But when unity transforms into uniformity, then it's dangerous. Trapping has been going on forever in Malta," he opines. "It is a tradition . . . it's ingrained in our people."

However, BirdLife Malta disputes that the activity has its origins on the island, citing theories that it is actually a pastime imported from Sicily.

It also contends that trapping is undermining the songbird population.

"Finches are protected birds all over Europe," says Joseph Mangion, the group's president.

"If you go to Europe, you have green finches running about in public gardens. We don't have any chance of that here.

"The idea that you can take finches from the wild really defeats the purpose because they should be present for the enjoyment of everyone."

Despite European Union laws on the protection of habitats and species, a deal was struck allowing two of the accession countries, to maintain their hunting traditions.