Six protected honey buzzards were killed in the past days in the area around the Malta International Airport, the Committee Against Bird Slaughter (CABS) said on Wednesday.
It said that its members had on Sunday spotted around 50 honey buzzards coming into roost in Ħas-Saptan valley, which directly borders the airport runway.
Despite a strict curfew prohibiting hunting after 1pm on Sundays and public holidays, as the birds began to settle in trees, 22 shots were fired from five locations, CABS said.
One team also filmed a hunter in a hide with a silencer on his shotgun in the same area. Police were called and apprehended the man. Two shotguns were confiscated.
On Monday, at the same location, CABS members observed around 20 honey buzzards rise and fly south to continue their journey to Africa
But shortly after the birds tried to cross the nearby Wied il-Qoton, four were observed being shot down close to the runway edge lights.
The incident was reported to the police who took 50 minutes to arrive due to there being only one patrol for the island, CABS alleged. They said that despite an intensive search, neither the dead buzzards nor the persons who killed them could be found.
In the afternoon, a CABS team followed a flock of honey buzzards until the birds decided to roost in eucalyptus trees in the Birżebbuġa.
Although the afternoon hunting curfew was still in place, five shots were heard when the first birds flew low. When the team arrived at the scene, a man carrying a shotgun was filmed running off. Video material clearly showing his face and the weapon in his hands has been passed on to the police.
On Tuesday morning, CABS continued to monitor the roost in Birżebbuġa.
As soon as the first buzzards left the roost, gunshot fire increased significantly with at least two birds being hit, CABS wildlife crime officer Fiona Burrows said.
A video showing one of the Honey Buzzards falling from the sky has been published on YouTube.
On Wednesday morning, a CABS team filmed a hunter with his shotgun in the middle of Il-Ballut ta’ Marsaxlokk bird sanctuary where hunting is strictly prohibited. The man was subsequently apprehended and had his shotgun seized by the police.
In its statement, CABS labelled the fields and valleys around the airport as being “by far the worst killing grounds” for protected birds of prey in Europe.
“As our teams can only monitor a small part of this maze of walls and blind spots we are sure that our observations only represent a small fraction of the offences committed,” Burrows said.
CABS urged the authorities to focus their enforcement efforts and resources to the area.
‘Situation has improved significantly in other areas’
It added, however, that at other important raptor roosting sites the situation has significantly improved over the last years.
“In the night from Monday to Tuesday more than 120 marsh harriers roosted around Buskett Gardens and although many hunters were out in the morning all birds were left unscathed,” CABS press officer Axel Hirschfeld said.
He said CABS teams will continue to monitor the situation and document any illegalities during the peak raptor migration, with thousands of birds arriving from continental Europe are expected to pass the islands this week.