BirdLife Malta warned that, “the spring hunting season hasn’t even started yet, but the massacre of illegally shot protected birds has begun.”

It went on to say that, “with the start of the migration of birds of prey over the Maltese Islands, a spike in illegal hunting casualties has been immediately registered.”

“Over the weekend BirdLife Malta and police recovered no less than 10 illegally shot protected birds across Malta and Gozo. Some of these birds have been shot dead, whilst others have suffered life-threatening injuries,” it said.The NGO lamented that, “with this weekend’s actions, the migration journey of all these raptors, which were on the move north to Europe, has been cut short.”

It stated that “this is just the tip of the iceberg since with the rampant illegal hunting which took place in the past days many more would have been shot down across the Maltese Islands.”

A video on the NGO’s facebook page shows the recovery of a protected Marsh Harrier which was shot down at Tas-Santi. “This is one of seven Marsh Harriers with shotgun injuries which were retrieved since Friday,” Birdlife said.

Apart from these, BirdLife Malta said that another illegally shot Osprey and two Common Kestrels were also taken to the government vet after being found by members of the public or police in different areas.

Photos: BirdLife Malta – “A highly-protected Osprey. All the other photos, except for the last one which shows a Common Kestrel, are of the Marsh Harriers recovered from around Gozo and Malta since Friday”

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