BirdLife Malta has said in a statement that it is disappointed with the Government's decision to open another spring hunting season on Turtle Doves (Streptopelia turtur). Adding that, "the Government has documents that indicate that this should not take place anymore."
"Instead of giving value to scientific facts based on research, the Government has taken the wrong decision to open another spring hunting season on the Turtle Dove. In the past year, the Turtle Dove's status has gone from bad to worse and is now in a vulnerable status. Its numbers have decreased by 30 percent in 15 years. These are facts that nobody can deny," BLM said.
BirdLife Malta stated that when there is scientific information "being neglected year after another, and the Government takes a decision purely on a political basis, there may be the need for this decision to be taken by the public."
BirdLife Malta continue to insist that the numbers of birds killed and declared by hunters "are far from the truth, and measures to be sure on the quotas declared are fictitious and hard to enforce."
"The Government, with the advice of the Wild Birds Regulation Unit within the Parliamentary Secretariat for Agriculture, Fisheries and Animal Rights, prefers to believe the declarations made by those who kill the birds while ignoring the scientific facts," BLM said.
BirdLife Malta insisted that Spring hunting "is unsustainable and that killing birds on their last step from their breeding grounds goes against the values of conservation. Malta remains the only country in the European Union to allow hunting of Turtle Dove in spring."