In the last 5 days volunteers of the Committee Against Bird Slaughter (CABS) said that they have filmed hunters “shooting down and shooting at protected bird species on Malta.” A video published by the NGO on YouTube today which CABS says “shows two Kestrels being targeted by hunters in Handaq and Mtarfa as well as two Marsh Harriers being shot at in the Burmarrad area.”

The film also contains footage of Marsh Harriers with severe shotgun injuries and a shot Swift found by a CABS team near Safi. CABS said that its Bird Guards also witnessed the killing of a third Kestrel close to Fiddien. “The incident was reported to the ALE who searched the area but did find neither the dead bird nor the hunter who shot it down.”

CABS also received reports and photos from local birdwatchers who observed and photographed a Ruff and a Marsh Harrier with gunshot injuries close to the airport yesterday.

Also yesterday CABS said that “a shot Montagu´s Harrier was found by members of the public near Siggiewi. The finders alerted BirdLife Malta whose members brought the bird to a vet. An illegal mist net with a dead Robin was found and filmed on the Marfa Ridge.”

“As our teams can only monitor a small part of the island the incidents witnessed represent only a small percentage of the actual illegalities in the last days”, CABS General Secretary Alexander Heyd stated.

CABS also announced that it will publish more footage showing illegal hunting in the course of the next days.

Photos by CABS: “Dead Swift found in Safi and a Marsh Harrier with gunshot injuries (missing primaries in both wings and tail) observed this morning near Burmarrad.”

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