BirdLife Malta has said that the juvenile Greater Flamingo recovered over the weekend from Xrobb l-Ghagin, Malta, has been confirmed shot following an examination by the Malta Government vet.

It said that following an enquiry with the Environmental Protection Unit (formerly known as the Administrative Law Enforcement Unit, ALE) of the Malta Police Force, whose members recovered the dead bird last Saturday, BirdLife Malta was today informed that the government veterinarian confirmed that the flamingo was in fact illegally shot.

Bird Life said that this photo “probably shows the the same bird photographed earlier during that day at its Salina Nature Reserve.”The bird had probably roosted there as it was seen flying low several times over Salina on Saturday early in the morning and then was observed flying out towards Maghtab.

BirdLife said that it made another appearance some time later but did not settle down and flew off towards Bahar ic-Caghaq, probably meeting its fate at Delimara a few minutes later.It pointed out that “with this most recent illegal hunting casualty, the total number of illegally shot protected birds received by BirdLife Malta and police so far this year has now reached 116 since in the past days they had also recovered a Scopoli’s Shearwater from Dwejra, Gozo and a Yellow Legged Gull from Attard which were also confirmed shot.”

BirdLife Malta concluded by saying that “this means that in spite of the fact we’re still at the end of August, the number of illegal hunting casualties this year has already surpassed that of 2018 which was a record year with 114 illegally shot protected birds.”

Photos by BirdLife Malta and Mario V. Gauci. show the flamingo and Scopoli’s Shearwater

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