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Birders react to ‘romantic’ depiction of illegal hunting in Comino

There was little or no sympathy for ‘Salvu ta’ Kemmuna’ from birders after his appearance on the Bondi programme.

Environmentalists told MaltaToday that the programme was ill-researched and biased when it came to the question of hunting.

When contacted a Birdlife spokesman said that the popular PBS programme Bondi+ gave the impression that Comino was declared a bird sanctuary in recent years.

"But the truth is that Comino has been a bird sanctuary for much longer, 34 years in fact," he said.

He quoted Legal Notice 19 of 1969 which states: "No person shall, at any time of the year, kill or by any means take or attempt to kill or take any game in or over the island of Comino or within a distance of one mile from any point of the coast thereof."

The spokesman added that as things stand, the person who appeared on the programme could not have ever hunted legally on Comino.

"When this regulation became law the interviewee could not have been a licensed hunter, unless he was already hunting illegally on the island," he said. "A hunting licence could only have been acquired at the age of 21."

The spokesman said that Comino was still a fairly unspoilt environment, but admitted that there were still far too many cases of illegal killing of protected birds.

He added that the sea cliffs and open garigue were ideal for the potential nesting of Barn Owls, Kestrel and Peregrine Falcons, but these were never given the chance to settle because of illegal poaching.

He added that Comino is famous for the killing of some exotic species including two Pelicans which were shot in 1956.

Birdlife have a permanent station for monitoring bird migration on Comino as part of a Mediterranean project on the migration of birds over small islands (Progetto Piccole Isole).

The spokesman said it was sad that Bondi+ failed to highlight other problems Comino experiences, such as the unlicensed buggy that is driven about garigue areas.

Comino’s rocky landscape holds many rare and endemic plants.