BirdLife calls for end of spring hunting derogation

The European Commissioner for Environment has been advised to send a monitoring mission to Malta during the bird migration season following a "disastrous bloodbath" over the past two days.

BirdLife Malta has written to Commissioner Margot Wallstrom to say that the only way to control the massacre is to impose a total ban on hunting in spring and increase police resources.

The BirdLife premises were transformed into a bird cemetery yesterday as the media were invited to see dead protected birds, which the organisation said were shot down over the past days.

A large honey buzzard had a lead pellet lodged in its wing. A lifeless small Scops owl lay on a blood-spattered cuckoo as a birdwatcher held a swift with a broken wing. Several other birds lay dead on a table.

Addressing a news conference BirdLife Malta president Joseph Mangion called on the government to withdraw the derogation on spring hunting.

The past days' inclement weather had brought a large number of migrant birds to Malta, as could be expected during the migration season, when the birds are moving back to Europe to breed.

No sooner had the birds started flying over the islands when reports of indiscriminate hunting started coming in, Mr Mangion said.

On Monday evening, a major passage of honey buzzards occurred in the afternoon. Starting from the south of Malta, flocks of honey buzzards of even up to 300 birds at a time were seen converging onto wooded or forested areas.

Reports of illegal hunting were received from Marsa, the Addolorata Cemetery area, Tal-Handaq, Wardija, San Pawl tat-Targa, Siggiewi, Chadwick Lakes, and Buskett, among others. Some birdwatchers recorded seeing over 1,000 birds.

BLM officials claimed there were even reports of hunters shooting at birds from the windows of their own homes.

The organisation was informed that 10 police officers have been assigned bird protection duties in Gozo and 28 in Malta. There was a marked improvement in enforcement in Gozo.

Mr Mangion noted that the police were doing their utmost to control the situation, but in the prevailing circumstances they were overwhelmed by the extent of the illegal hunting.

In the letter to Ms Wallstrom, Mr Mangion said the spring hunting derogation for the shooting of turtle dove and quail would serve as a loophole for the widespread killing of protected birds on their way to European breeding grounds.

"The only way to control this state of affairs is to impose a total ban of hunting in spring, coupled with increased police resources. It is for this reason that BirdLife Malta urges you to appoint a monitoring mission to visit Malta during the migration season to witness and confirm this state of affairs."

BirdLife appealed to the public to continue reporting illegal hunting activities to the police on 2122 4001 and 191.