BirdLife Malta has said that just in one single day – 28th of March – two injured birds were recovered from the island of Gozo thanks to the assistance of the Committee Against Bird Slaughter (CABS).

Writing on social media BirdLife warned that “as spring migration intensifies, so does the illegal killing of birds, despite the hunting season being closed since the 31st January.”

It said that “Gozitan residents reached out to us about a Yellow-legged Gull recovered from Dahlet Qorrot with an open fracture to its wing, and a Grey Heron which landed in fields near Dwejra after it was also shot at.”Both birds have been diagnosed by vets as having suffered shotgun injuries as a result of illegal hunting, BirdLife said.

The Yellow-legged Gull is a local breeding bird, with this adult’s chance of raising its young due to hatch later in April, cut short. The Grey Heron is a migratory species which, after spending the winter months in Africa, would have been migrating north to nest in Europe.

Then, on the 30th of March, BirdLife Malta said that it also received an injured Common Kestrel. The protected bird was recovered by a member of the public in Wied Hesri, limits of Siggiewi.It was also confirmed as an illegal hunting casualty following an examination by the vets, BirdLife said.

BirdLife Malta stated that, “the legal amendments introduced by government on the eve of the general election are one of the many reasons such incidents continue to happen. Hunters can now transfer bird carcasses between each other as long as an application is filed, and they are considered as legal transfers even though no checks would be executed.”

BirdLife Malta went on to say that “following another year of illegal hunting casualties where between them BirdLife Malta and government authorities recovered over 181 shot birds, these three shot birds are just the start of a spring period which is expected to peak with illegal hunting casualties as we approach an open spring hunting season later in April.”

Following the results of the general election, BirdLife Malta called on the Prime Minister to keep bird conservation and protection under the Minister for the Environment. Currently it falls under the Ministry for Gozo – Minister Clint Camilleri is also a hunter.

In a letter to the Prime Minister, BirdLife Malta highlighted the importance of not splitting the conservation and protection of biodiversity. “Malta’s Environment Act gathers all this under its remit including the Conservation of Wild Birds and consequently also the Wild Birds Regulations Unit.”

As expressed by BirdLife Malta in the past, we urged the Prime Minister to place these remits under the Ministry for the Environment, also as requested by the same Environment Act.

Video footage by BirdLife Malta. Editing by Nathaniel Attard. Screenshots BLM video

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