Hunters' federation FKNK has been given a €14,000 grant by a gaming foundation to help monitor turtle doves, with the agreement overseen by Economy Minister Silvio Schembri. 

The grant by the Foundation for Responsible Gaming will help finance the second part of an FKNK project which began in 2017 and mainly focused on breeding turtle doves to release them in the wild. 

Schembri, who presided over the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the two entities on Saturday, said that he appreciated "the work FKNK are doing to conserve an activity which has been part of Maltese tradition for years.”

FKNK says that it released 1,450 turtle doves into the wild between 2017 and June 2019. 

The project will now enter a second phase related to research and monitoring through the use of solar-powered GPS transmitters attached to birds that the FKNK will be releasing into the wild between May and June of this year. 

The transmitters will allow FKNK to monitor reference populations of the released birds, giving them information about which countries the birds have flown to and their migratory patterns.

Photo: DOI

Schembri praised FKNK efforts to team up with the Italian Hunters Federation, which is highly experienced in the administration of several similar programs, where birds are fitted with this type of equipment and eventually released into the wild. 

“I encourage their work, and to continue their research which will be very beneficial to those who practice this hobby and strengthen indoor turtle dove breeding and releasing them into the wild.”

FKNK public relations officer Lucas Micallef said that the grant will help FKNK to continue to increase the wild turtle dove population. He explained that birds are always released during migration periods, when hunting and trapping is not permitted.

Neville Mangion, the non-executive chairman of the RGF said that the foundation believes in the project.

"The release into the wild of captive pigeons is a tangible contribution that Malta can make to the conservation of this species in the wild and agrees with the FKNK that other IT means should be adopted for the monitoring of bird movements,” said Mangion.