The Regional Assembly has passed a motion, lodged by the group Podemos, which demands the enforcement of the law which outlaws the capture of wild finches.
It is estimated that some 88,000 finches have been captured in the wild over the past ten years in flagrant breach of the law. The finches are famous for their enchanting song and are captured and caged for “sport” and for competition purposes.
According to Podemos, there is also a thriving black market in the birds.
The Regional Assembly has now given the green light to a motion demanding that the illegal capture is stopped and underlines that both the capture of wild finches and keeping them in cages is illegal.
A spokesperson for Podemos claims that none of the political parties are interested in actively preventing this activity and demands the Murcia region follow the example of Cantabria, Asturias and Navarra and Guipúzcoa by outlawing the birds in captitiviy and/or competition or that of Castilla and Leon or Cataluna, where licences, for the same, have been suspended.
The alternative, according to Podemos, is to breed the birds captivity, as is common practice in other European countries, and not to endanger the species by capturing the birds in the wild.
Photo by Wikipèdia
