Turtle dove listed as vulnerable species

The EU Commission has placed the European turtle dove on the red list of endangered species, which could trigger a review of the bird's status as a hunted species.

Bird Life Malta, represented by director Steve Micklewright and conservation manager Nicholas Barbara, announced the grim news at a press conference in Floriana this morning.

The list, compiled by Bird Life International, is the result of extensive research into species patterns and it shows that turtle dove is a near endagered species, with an 80% decrease in species since 1980s. The International Union for Conservation of Nature, an international conservation organisation, backed the study's findings.

The health of some 533 species populations were assessed in all, with 170 of these species linked to Malta either as migratory birds or otherwise. The report shows that hunting is one of the factors that significantly influenced the population decrease of the turtle dove. 

Bird Life called for a review by the government on the hunting of the species, given its new conservation status as a result of the report's findings, saying that other member states have already enacted controls on hunting.

“The government is now legally obliged to consider this negative change in conservation status when they make a decision on spring hunting for next year. This obligation stems from the same Framework Regulations which were the subject of last April’s referendum to abolish spring hunting,” Micklewright said.

Barbara added that the new evidence was extremely worrying and that the species was at risk of disappearing altogether during our lifetimes.

“We know from bird ringing records that turtle doves migrating over Malta in spring are on their way to breed in Eastern Europe, particularly Austria, Germany and Poland where these birds are struggling for survival,” Barbara added.

“Malta is now the only EU country that allows turtle dove to be hunted in spring and this new information confirms more than ever that spring hunting is unsustainable. It has to stop before it is too late,” Micklewright insisted.