Agents working with the State’s wildlife authority have recovered a male bullfinch bird believed to have been illegally trapped in the wild following a raid in Limerick.A search was carried out on a property in St Mary’s Park in Limerick city on Wednesday afternoon as part of an ongoing investigation targeting the illegal trapping and possession of wild birds.The operation was led by the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) and involved gardaí, the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (NSPCA) and the Limerick Dog Warden Services.No arrests were made as part of the operation but a wild male bullfinch was surrendered to NPWS staff.Wild bird trapping is an enduring problem in Ireland although one that tends to go under the radar, according to BirdWatch Ireland.Its spokesman Niall Hatch told The Irish Times that while the scale of the issue is “very hard to quantify”, BirdWatch Ireland “quite regularly get reports from people saying that they’ve seen people illegally trapping finches”. Some wild birds, including the bullfinch, are prized for how they look, while others, including the goldfinch, are more sought after for how they sound, he said. “The selling of wild birds is being done very much under the radar but we know that there is an illegal trade,” Hatch said. Some of the smaller birds, including finches, that are taken from the wild could fetch hundreds of euro on the black market, while larger birds of prey can be sold for tens of thousands of euro.[ Four arrested as cannabis worth ‘more than €5m’ seizedOpens in new window ]Hatch said the stress of capture can prove fatal for many birds. “It is a miserable thing to do because the stress on them is intolerable,” he said. “The bullfinch is known to be a very highly strung bird and when they’re captured and kept quite a lot of them just die from the stress.”He said migratory species that are trapped in the wild can also suffer badly, and could die if denied the ability to migrate in the autumn.“It’s a nasty world,” said wildlife expert and author Eric Dempsey. “It is not as common as it used to be. There used to be a lot of bird markets in Dublin and around Ireland but they are very few and far between now and most of the trade has gone online. The bullfinches would be sought after for their feathers. They are a beautiful bird.”