BirdLife Malta is to continue with its legal battle against the Government European Commission requested to scrutinise this year’s spring hunting season, which the NGO said is the “worst spring hunting season ever.”

BirdLife Malta has said that today took its legal battle against the Government to the next level with the filing of a Court Application (Rikors) on the claim that placing the Conservation of Wild Birds Regulations and the Wild Birds Regulation Unit (WBRU) under the Ministry of Gozo goes against the Environment Protection Act and subsequent subsidiary legislation.

Addressing a press conference the NGO said that the Court Application was handed in this morning and comes after a Judicial Protest on the same issue was filed in January of this year, followed by a Complaint last week.

It explained that this court action is also contesting the fact that Minister for Gozo Clint Camilleri issued the spring hunting licences “without having the legal remit to do so. It is only the Minister for the Environment that can administer the environmental legislations and anything that derives from it, including the WBRU.”

Speaking in front of the Law Courts following the filing of the Court Application and just a few hours before the end of this year’s spring hunting season, BirdLife Malta officials explained how all this is happening during “the worst spring hunting season ever.”

“This season was again a smokescreen for illegalities and designed in a way to allow hunters to shoot at, and kill Turtle-doves in spite of the fact it was supposedly open only for Quail,” the NGO said.

It stated that “over just 20 days of hunting, we have had 44 known illegally shot protected birds, more than triple what we had last year with 12. In 2018 and 2017 during the same period we had 18 and 15 respectively which means that in 2020 we have just one bird less than the total number of the last three spring hunting seasons all together.”

What is worse and more worrying is the fact that “16 of these birds were Turtle-doves which could have been saved had the Government not opened a spring hunting season during this species’ peak migration,” said BLM.

The NGO said that “two of these were found at the Federation for Hunting and Conservation (FKNK) claimed land of Mizieb which, as was revealed by the media a few days ago, the government is contemplating handing over to the hunting lobby granting it exclusive access to this mecca of illegalities for nine out of 12 months of the year.”

The rest of the protected birds varied from bird of prey species such as Common Kestrel, Marsh Harrier, Honey-buzzard and Black Kite to Hoopoe, Bee-eater, Yellow-legged Gull, Collared Dove, Little Egret, Grey Heron, Common Swift, Golden Oriole, Nightjar, Stone Curlew and even a racing pigeon.

BLM stressed that “these are just the tip of the iceberg since they represent only those that did not land near the perpetrator or in unaccessible places. These were all certified shot following an examination by the government veterinarian.”

“This spring hunting season’s shameful numbers bring the total of illegally shot birds so far this year up to 66, and with this rate 2020 might end up being the worst year in the past eight years. We’re still at the end of April and BirdLife Malta and police have already recovered two thirds of the full total (99) of birds received in 2019,” said the NGO.

“This year’s spring hunting season was characterised by an evident lack of enforcement on the ground,” it said.

BirdLife argued that following the opening of the season in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic crisis – “despite an unprecedented unified call to the contrary by BirdLife Malta, BirdLife International, Alternattiva Demokratika, civil society NGOs and the independent media – illegal hunting was rampant, with police under strain due to the delicate situation in the country and enforcement officers struggling to control the hunting situation as requested by law.”

In spite of all this, BirdLife said that the Government is “still dragging its feet on the setting up of a Wildlife Crime Unit over which there has been unanimous agreement at ORNIS Committee level since August 2018.”

In the absence of such a commitment, BirdLife Malta said that it has once again no other option than to raise all these points and issues on a European level. “A dossier documented with all evidence collected will in fact soon be submitted formally to the European Commission.”

The NGO concluded by saying that “with these horrendous figures and and in view of the lack of discipline, strict supervision and enforcement we will be requesting the European Union to scrutinise this year’s season more than ever and start infringement procedures accordingly.”

Photo by BirdLife Malta shows “Turtle-dove illegally shot down this spring hunting season”

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