Birdlife Malta said in a statement that “a flock of Greater Flamingos were shot by at least one illegal hunter standing on the shoreline at Qawra in full view of people passing, as the flock flew overhead across Salina Bay on Wednesday morning. Three are thought to have been killed, falling into the sea, while two others landed injured. A third injured flamingo was also seen flying very low around Mellieha Bay the same morning.”

BirdLife Malta has passed information to the ALE about the identity of a suspect and are waiting for action from the police.

The flock of around 40 flamingos was first spotted yesterday in the south heading north, following the coastline as far as St Paul’s Bay, where the birds are believed to have roosted overnight near St Paul’s Islands.

BLM said that on Wednesday morning as the birds attempted to continue their migration they came under fire, “with at least three of them seriously injured and three most probably killed. The remaining birds were seen flying north towards Gozo.”

BirdLife and the ALE were trying to recover the injured birds for rehabilitation. While in Salina the BirdLife team observed a flock of seven Grey Herons, one of which had a visible gunshot injury.

BirdLife Malta Conservation Manager, who immediately went to the scene, stated, “This is yet another example of how illegal hunting is widespread and not isolated cases as claimed by the authorities. Arrival of rare birds in Malta, like these Greater Flamingos, should attract tourists; instead it attracts poachers with guns.”

BirdLife said that it alone has recovered 40 dead protected birds over the last four weeks and observed around 200 protected birds being shot at and flying with gunshot injuries.

“These figures only scrape the surface of the true extent of illegal hunting in Malta,” said Mr Barbara. “The authorities do not publish the number of shot protected birds they receive and many more are never found as the evidence is destroyed by the poachers.

“It appears that nowhere in Malta is immune to illegal hunting. Only yesterday a BirdLife team recovered a shot Night Heron a few meters from the Prime Minister’s residence,” Mr Barbara concluded.

Photos show one of the juvenile Greater Flamingos shot this morning at Qawra Point, holding its injured left leg off the ground – Photo Luke Massey. A Grey Heron with a dangling leg typical of gunshot injuries flew overhead as the BirdLife team tried to recover flamingo – Photo Luke Massey. A shot Night Heron recovered by BirdLife Malta yesterday just meters from the Prime Minister’s residence – Photo BirdLife Malta.

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