Updated 5pm with FKNK reaction
An adult flamingo was found injured off Gozo’s coast on Saturday, becoming what BirdLife Malta said was poachers’ third victim since the autumn hunting season opened three days ago.
The bird conservation NGO believes the flamingo formed part of a flock crossing over Malta and Gozo as it migrated into Europe from Africa.
Autumn hunting of select species is permitted between September 1 and January 31. Activists say its early starting date increases the risk of poaching crimes, as multiple bird species undertake their yearly migration throughout September.
The flamingo found on Saturday was discovered floating at sea by a local fisherman, who reported the bird to Birdlife.
Video published by the NGO showed the bird bleeding profusely.
The poaching crime comes days after Birdlife warned that hunting enforcement remained sorely lacking and said the Gozo Ministry, which is responsible for hunting, had opted to bypass the consultative ORNIS Committee and allow autumn hunting without consultation.
The ORNIS committee has not met since May, when FKNK head Lino Farrugia allegedly assaulted the head of the Wild Birds Regulation Unit, Richard Lia.
Farrugia continues to serve as CEO of the hunters' lobby group.
Prized within taxidermy circles
Birdlife conservation manager Nathaniel Barbara said birds like flamingos were being killed, stuffed and then traded on black markets without any real checks by authorities.
Times of Malta had reported in 2019 that official estimates indicate that the vast majority of taxidermists operating locally do so without a valid licence.
Flamingos are a protected species and hunting or trapping them is illegal. First-time offenders face anything from a €5,000 fine to one-year jail term, and will be disqualified from holding a hunting licence. Repeat offenders can be jailed for two years. But the threat of punishment has done little to deter poachers, who continue to hunt them with impunity.
In October last year, eyewitnesses saw four flamingos being shot down at Qawra Point. The discovery led police to arrest and charge a 23-year-old man with having killed the protected birds.
A court has heard how the man told police officers that he was aiming at a duck.
The flagrant poaching incident drew widespread condemnation and led to the environment minister pledging to declare Qawra Point a no-hunting zone.
Despite that pledge, one year later hunting remains permitted at Qawra Point.
In another incident dating back to 2020, unknown criminals broke into a nature reserve at Ghadira Bay and captured two flamingos that had been brought there by volunteers to recover from previous injuries.
'Pretext for eradication of hunting' - FKNK
In a statement, hunters' lobby FKNK accused Birdlife of latching on to any pretext in an effort to eradicate all hunting in the country.
FKNK reiterated its unreserved condemnation of any illegalities involving protected birds and the natural environment, and its support for "legal and sustainable hunting with the result of gastronomic consumption of natural resources".
"We are once again seeing an attitude and reaction from Birdlife Malta aimed at condemning and discriminating against a section of society. FKNK continues to call for a forceful reaction against these acts and a distinction between the thousands of responsible [hunters] and those with no respect for anyone or anything, least of all the natural environment."
It asked its members to pass any relevant information about the illegal shooting on to the authorities.