BirdLife Malta  released a video today, which it said, shows some of the findings of its annual Spring Watch camp that monitored this year’s spring hunting season for illegalities across Malta and Gozo.

During the monitoring period, BirdLife said its teams recorded 163 illegalities in total, ranging from the use of illegal electronic callers to witnessing protected birds shot at/shot down.

In addition, it said that 23 shot protected birds comprising of nine species were handed over to BirdLife Malta and the police, ”which only represents a fraction of the true number.”

BirdLife Malta stressed that ”these illegalities all occurred under the guise of a derogation to the EU Birds Directive. Malta is the only country within the EU which routinely allows a spring hunting season to open.”

BirdLife explained that this video presents a chronological account of illegalities witnessed during the season, which opened for three weeks from the 10th to the 30th of April, where Common Quail were legal to hunt during the whole period, with a national bag limit of 2,400 birds (0.3 birds per hunter).

The NGO stated that despite the dwindling population of the European Turtle Dove, classified by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species as Vulnerable to Extinction, ”the Government authorised the hunting of this species during the time where adult birds were en-route to their breeding grounds.”

7,969 licensed hunters were out between the 17th and 30th of April to shoot a national bag limit of 1,500 Turtle-doves (0.2 birds per hunter).

Screenshot and Footage BirdLife Malta, editing by Cinzia Mintoff

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