Short-Toed Eagles roosted on Malta, continuing migration on Sunday – KSU

by Gozo News · November 5, 2019

Kaccaturi San Ubertu (KSU) in a statement about the recent visit to Malta by a number of Short-Toed Eagles, said that members of KSU observed the flock coming in from the south west of the island.

“Some roosted in Buskett while others made their way to Girgenti, Dingli and other areas on the West coast of Malta,” the NGO said.

KSU stated that it “also has reports, backed by video evidence, of 4 eagles that were seen roosting in the Grand Harbour areas.”

As on previous occasions, KSU said that it “immediately took action and had members observe and monitor the areas.”

The NGO claimed that “contrary to reports by BirdLife Malta (BLM), the birds in the Girgenti, Dingli area were seen resuming their migratory journey in the small hours of Sunday.”

KSU noted that the BLM statement was “carefully conditioned by saying that they are `believed to have been shot dead.’ The birds were clearly migrating south and like others, they have wings and resumed their journey.”

It argued that, “the simple notion by BLM that the birds were shot at just because they continued their migration is unbelievable.”

KSU thanked the hunting community for “their responsible behaviour, as has already been seen throughout this Autumn season.”

The Organisation slammed what it called “the vile and fake news dispersed by BLM,” and unfortunately, it said, “sensationally carried by most of the media, insinuating, that most of these magnificent birds (‘all but one’) were shot down, when in fact they continued on their migration.”

“BLM reported seeing one of these birds being shot down, but only backed up their story by a video of one of them leaving the roost from Buskett, with some shots in the distant background,” it said.

KSU continued by saying that it would like to “remind BirdLife Malta that as it is peak autumn season at the moment, the shots should come as no surprise. ”

“Very clearly the video by BLM shows that the bird was not molested in anyway,” said KSU. “What is unequivocally factual, is that after a thorough search, neither BLM nor the Law Enforcement Unit found any wounded or dead birds and no proof whatsoever that the birds have been shot at has been produced.”