On Wednesday, a man was arrested for killing a stork. Just a week earlier, a trapper was arrested at Buskett. But while the former was handed a suspended sentence the day after, the trapper has so far not faced court proceedings.

On Wednesday 10 September, CABS released a press release stating that on that same morning, the committee spotted an illegal trapping site for songbirds near Buskett, and alerted the authorities.

A joint police-army patrol arrived at the scene, and a man was apprehended. The press release claimed the trapper would be taken up to court soon. Six live protected finches and pipits as well as a large clap net were confiscated.

A spokesperson for CABS, Alex Hirschfeld, said that even though the person in question admitted to committing such illegalities to the police, the committee is suspecting that the person will not be taken to court. The spokesperson said that there are a lot of inconsistencies in the way such cases are dealt with; some are fast tracked to court, others take over a year.

Last Wednesday, a 26-year-old man was handed a three-month suspended sentence, fined €5,000 and barred for the rest of his life for having a weapon in his possession, after he was found guilty of killing a stork. He was arrested on Tuesday by a police inspector who was off-duty, but saw the incident as he was taking pictures of birds flying over the area, and noticed that one of them was shot down. He chased down the hunter, and arrested him.

Meanwhile, illegalities continue as another protected bird was shot down yesterday morning, about 100m from the airport. The police arrived at the spot, however failed to apprehend the hunter.

This newspaper tried to contact the police for their reaction, however so far has had no reply.