Following a tip off by the CABS – The Committee Against Bird Slaughter, ALE officers have seized 75 protected wader and song bird species during a raid on a greenhouse complex near Bahrija in Malta.

The CABS team had heard unusual bird calls from the greenhouse complex, which was situated in the area of the former maritime radio station at Wied Rini.

The police arrived within fifteen minutes and began a search of the greenhouse complex, they discovered a large aviary which contained almost exclusively protected species. The birds included 32 Little Stints (Tertuxa), 13 Wood Sandpipers (Swejda Cara), 8 Common Sandpipers (Pispisella), 5 Little Ringed Plovers (Monakella), 5 Green Sandpipers (Swejda), 2 White Wagtails (Zakak Adjad), 2 Yellow Wagtails (Isfar) and one each of Red-throated Pipit (Dizz Ahmar), Dunlin (Pispisella tad-Dabra), Temminck’s Stint (Tertuxa Griza) and a Ring Ouzel (Malvzz tas-Sidra), three other birds died before being rescued.

The birds, many of which had had their wings clipped, were subsequently cared for by MEPA specialists and taken away. The raid, which continued on into the early evening yesterday, resulted in the seizure of the largest collection of living water birds yet discovered in Malta. The black market value of the confiscated birds was assessed by experts to be more than €20,000.

The birds were transported to the Il Ghadira nature reserve in the north of Malta this morning and set free.

The CABS volunteers will be continuing their stay in Gozo and Malta until the 28th of September, in a joint effort with the police and local conservationists to combat illegal hunting and trapping.

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