CABS places €5,000 ‘bounty’ on poachers who downed Spoonbill

The Campaign Against Bird Slaughter is offering a €5,000 reward for information leading to the identification and successful prosecution of poachers who killed a Spoonbill in Salini.

CABS have veeb monitoring raptor migration and illegal hunting on Malta and Gozo since 11 September, and has so far observed and reported three incidents of shooting of protected birds to the police. The victims were a Short-toed Eagle, a Hoopoe and the Eurasian Spoonbill found near Salini last week.

Apart from these cases the birdwatchers observed a significant decrease of incidents that involved shooting at or of protected birds as well as observations of birds with visible shotgun injuries. “The times of the big massacres are over. We now have to deal with the criminals who still think that they are above the law,” CABS president Heinz Schwarze said. 

To help the police in their efforts to identify the Spoonbill-shooter CABS is offering a reward of €5,000 for information that leads to the identification and successful prosecution of the person who shot at the Spoonbill in Salini last week. Witnesses have been asked to contact either CABS (Email [email protected]) or the police.

Return of 'Maltese falcon'

CABS volunteers also witnessed and filmed what they described as a “bold attempt to hit and kill a highly protected species”, Wednesday morning - the incident, which happened at around 6:50am, was recorded on video showing the two 'hunters' to be a pair of Peregrine Falcons, preying on Harriers.

It seemed that the Falcons acted jointly to defend their territory – a behaviour which would confirm reports of local ornithologists stating that the 'Maltese Falcon' is on the comeback.

To ensure the safety of the rare birds CABS decided not to publish the location of the site.