A highly protected bird of prey has been shot, just days after four flamingos were illegally killed, according to activists.

BirdLife Malta said the injured osprey - or Arpa in Maltese - fell from the sky in Bidnija, and was later certified to have been shot at.

It is the second time in a week that protected species have been hit.

On Saturday, the four flamingos were killed over Qawra on Saturday morning. A 23-year-old hunter has been charged with the crime. 

 

In a statement, BirdLife Malta said a man driving in the area initially saw the bird flying in his direction "and then saw the bird falling down from the air, just missing his car."

He stopped and called the police and the conservation group.

Officers from the Environment Protection Unit (EPU) went on site and recovered the injured bird, which was taken to the government vet, who certified that it had been illegally shot at. 

The Osprey is a raptor species, which according to the organisation, is highly prized by trophy hunters for taxidermy.

Earlier this week, BirdLife Malta said 523 protected birds have been illegally shot at since 2018.

The organisation also claimed there was a surge of illegal shooting of birds of prey last month, as hunters were taking advantage of a low police presence.

“Today’s incident continues to pile pressure on the Malta government to take action in this regard and heed our call made earlier this week to immediately resume the verification process of stuffed protected bird collections.”

It claims hunters are inflating the numbers of birds in their unverified collections so that they can get away with shooting illegally.