“The discovery of injured or dead birds is a cause for concern for all law abiding hunters. The authorities are urged to investigate each case for the presence of lead shot and publish their findings before the media or the public rushes to conclusions,” Kaccaturi San Ubertu (Saint Hubert Hunters) said in a statement this evening.

KSU continued by saying that it “is not uncommon for birds on migration, which mainly occurs during the night, to collide with power lines, aerials or other obstacles during migration.”

“A study in the UK by British Trust for Ornithology estimated that 100 million bird strikes occurred each year, of which a third are fatal,” KSU added, “strangely no such accidental injury or death has ever been reported in Malta by the bird protection societies or the media and infallibly hunters are blamed for all such incidents.”

Kaccaturi San Ubertu said that it does not exclude the possibility of protected birds being targeted by some irresponsible gun owners and solicit the harshest penalties for any such crime.

“However,” KSU continued, it “deplore the automatic condemnation of the media and the hysterical anti hunting comments that follow every such incident before facts are officially established by an unbiased authority.”

It urged the public “to inform the police on telephone number 112 of any such find and is reminded that the handling of injured or dead protected birds which can only be carried out by authorised persons, apart from being detrimental to injured birds is also an offence.”

File photograph of injured Marsh Harrier by Ed Shepherd.

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