Birdlife Malta has said that a BirdLife Malta Spring Watch team was this morning ambushed and attacked on the road past the Red Tower in the Foresta 2000 site at Mellieha.

“At 07:00 a car carrying four BirdLife volunteers was ambushed by two men wearing camouflage, hats, and handkerchiefs over their faces. The men jumped out from behind a rubble wall and pelted the car with big stones.”

“One of the female passengers, clearly visible behind the rear window, narrowly escaped injury after a stone missed the window only inches away from her face. A construction brick was hurled at the front passenger window, narrowly missing and hitting the car instead.”

“The aggressors ran away after the vehicle stopped. A third person was also observed running in their direction from an illegal trapping site.”

“The stones were thrown at the windows even though there were people visible behind them. These men were not trying to damage the car but trying to hurt us.” said one of the volunteers who was driving the car.

They said that a report was placed with the police who arrived 20 minutes later and escorted the team away from the site before searching the area. The aggressors were not apprehended.

Birdlife said that several attacks against BirdLife Malta have occurred at the Foresta 2000 site in the past. In April 2009 the Foresta 2000 warden was ambushed and shot in the head. In one of the worst environmental crimes in recent years around 3,000 trees and shrubs were uprooted and destroyed in 2007. Several other incidences in the area such as the burning of a BirdLife billboard, burning of parts of the Ghadira nature reserve and direct threats to BirdLife staff and volunteers have also occurred over the past few years. However no one has been brought to justice to date.

They concluded by saying that this attack is the latest in a spate of violent attacks on BirdLife volunteers this April. Last Sunday BirdLife volunteers were assaulted by two hunters while they were walking on a country lane. They were later accused of trespassing by the aggressors. The video footage clearly showed that the volunteers were on a country road and the aggressors attacked them without any warning. The video footage also revealed hunters discussing hiding shotguns from the police.

Photo: BirdLife volunteers are currently monitoring bird migration in the countryside – Photo by Rob Cardell.

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