A goldfinch trafficker was sentenced to an eighteen-month suspended prison sentence with an immediate arrest warrant by the Montpellier court. On February 2, 2022, the agents of French Office for Biodiversity (OFB) of Hérault and the property damage group of the departmental security of the national police of Montpellier had intervened to put an end to the actions of a trafficker of European goldfinches in the town of Montpellier.
The man was already very unfavorably known for similar facts in the Gard. Five months later, the respondent had once again been caught, this time with his minor son, capturing goldfinches with glue. In addition to his sentence to prison, he will have to pay 2,000 euros in damages to France Nature Environnement and 2,500 euros to the League for the Protection of Birds, civil parties in this case.
“Dramatically increasing traffic”
“This exemplary sanction is a reminder that the trafficking of goldfinches in the Hérault department is taken very seriously by the courts. It constitutes a warning for all traffickers”, welcomes the OFB of Hérault.
“The cases of goldfinch trafficking have increased considerably in recent years in the south of France”, he also laments.