An illegally shot common kestrel was found by a member of the public who reported the find to Birdlife Malta. 

Wildlife photographer Benjamin Grech shared images of the shot protected bird on Saturday. 

"Encounters like this leave me furious, sick to my stomach, and in tears," Grech wrote on Facebook. "Unlike me this bird, although in excruciating pain is voiceless and cannot cry anymore. Growing up I looked up to politicians and people in power, because in me they instilled how much of a difference one person can do. It's encounters like these that make me wonder what type of difference that is though."

In recent weeks, Birdlife has warned of a "massacre" of protected birds shot during the autumn migration since the hunting season opened on September 1, which the organisation said was facilitated by a lack of police presence. 

BirdLife Malta CEO Mark Sultana said in September: “It is unconceivable that during peak migration of birds of prey, police presence on the ground is weak when up to 11,000 hunters are given a licence to hunt during these days. It is not a coincidence that such lack of enforcementis always experienced in the run-up to a general election, with political leaders on both sides remaining silent on this issue, while voicing their appease tothose that break the law.”

Earlier this month, public outrage was prompted by the illegal killing of four flamingoes over Qawra. A hunter has since been charged over the incident while the area in question was declared a no-hunting zone.