Police officers from the Prilep station searched the home of a 46-year-old Prilep man and found ten birds of the species Carduelis carduelis - goldfinches - shut in a cage. The birds and the cage were seized, and the search was carried out under a warrant from the Basic Court in Prilep.

The search took place on 12 August at 13:35, on suspicion of the criminal offence of killing or destroying protected species of wild flora and fauna under Article 232-a of the Criminal Code. Once the case is fully documented, a formal filing will follow.

The goldfinch is a protected wild species in Macedonia, as it is across the rest of Europe. Taking it from the wild, keeping it in captivity, trading it or killing it are strictly prohibited and carry criminal liability.

Here is the part many people do not know. Keeping songbirds in a cage is an old habit in this region and is treated as a harmless hobby, almost like keeping a canary. The difference is that a canary is bred and a goldfinch is caught - and every bird taken is one fewer in the wild.

Ten birds in one home is not a story about industrial trade. But trapping works as a chain: somebody catches, somebody buys, somebody keeps. This case exposed the last link. The question the police bulletin does not answer is whether anyone is even looking for who caught them and where they are being sold.