2 comments so far.Spring hunting: “An indiscriminate massacre of protected species” – BirdLife
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This year’s spring hunting season which ran between 10th and 30th April was an “indiscriminate massacre of protected species including the vulnerable Turtle-dove,” BirdLife Malta said today.
In a statement, the eNGO claimed that “it was a season riddled with illegalities, which should warrant immediate scrutiny by the European Commission.”
“While Minister Clint Camilleri knows that the European Commission is not happy with his decision to open a spring hunting season on the protected Turtle-dove, he is also aware that this was illegal and breaches the EU Birds Directive which specifically does not allow any hunting in spring on this species due to its vulnerable status,” stated BirdLife Malta.
Our Spring Watch camp – which fielded an average of just three teams a day across a number of watchpoints in Malta in Gozo – has witnessed over 208 illegal hunting incidents during this period.
During the same period, BirdLife Malta recovered a total of 18 shot birds belonging to 15 protected species whilst Environmental Protection Unit (EPU) police retrieved a further 16 illegal hunting casualties.
BirdLife Malta CEO Mark Sultana stated, “the season was clearly a free-for-all with a very evident mass movement of hunters on the island of Gozo not matched by police enforcement.”
He argued that, “the lack of enforcement on Gozo is also indicated by the significant number of cases of shot protected birds retrieved from the island. The end result remains that hunters in Malta and Gozo are getting used to getting away with targeting protected birds.”
Sultana concluded by saying that “if one had to compare the last five years since 2018 to date with the previous five years (2013-3017) one would realise that the amount of illegally shot protected birds has nearly trebled.”
Photos by Benjamin Grech – Osprey shot down over Gozo – a highly-prized raptor species for taxidermy; and Photo: BirdLife Malta – Purple Heron found by a member of the public in Mgarr ix-Xini, Gozo
Perhaps the hunting season should be banned outright to protect endangered birds. The EU should also stop gifting money to the Maltese Islands as a penalty. The state of the roads especially on Gozo is deplorable, why, when money has been given to improve them. Where has this money gone? Maybe a signed petition should be sent to the EU on this matter.
With Camilleri as Minister, this slaughter will continue. It’s such a shame the EU just drags its feet over this issue. The Maltese government and the EU should hang their heads in shame over this butchery.