The police added more charges against a hunter facing criminal proceedings over the shooting of a protected bird at Baħar iċ-Ċagħaq last month after investigations allegedly yielded an illegal stash of stuffed protected birds in his possession.

Officers found an unspecified number of protected birds, some of them stuffed, during a raid several days after his arraignment while police investigations into the shooting continued.

Carl Sant, 31, from Mosta was tracked down by the police after they analysed videos taken from the site at Qalet Marku after people in the area reported that a man had shot a flamingo, a protected species, and subsequently retrieved the bird from the sea.

The hunter then left the area in a car.

When he was first charged, Sant was only accused of hunting the protected bird in breach of the Wild Birds Conservation Regulations and other related legislation.

He was released on bail immediately, against a third-party guarantee for €10,000 by a relative of the accused, signing the bail book twice weekly and under a curfew between midnight and 5am.

But as the case started being heard this week before Magistrate Yana Micallef Stafrace, police inspector Elliot Magro, prosecuting, added a raft of fresh charges related to the illegal possession of the protected birds that were found.

According to law, no one is allowed to stuff or mount any bird or act as a taxidermist without a valid licence issued by the Wild Birds Regulation Unit.

Sant is denying all the charges brought against him.

Meanwhile, several eyewitnesses testified during the first sitting, explaining how they were admiring the flamingo flying over Baħar iċ-Ċagħaq when they suddenly saw it being shot. The video footage they shot was exhibited in court.

Pressed by defence lawyers Franco Debono and Alex Miruzzi, the witnesses said they saw the flamingo being shot but did not see who shot the bird. They saw a hunter around 500 metres from where they were, who they identified as Sant, but said they did not see him shooting the protected bird.

The case continues.