[WATCH] Child takes hunter’s shotgun in Miżieb hide, proving lax controls on illegalities

Child takes hunter’s shotgun in Miżieb hide, proving lax controls on illegalities

A child of no more than 12 years old can be clearly seen holding a hunter’s shotgun in a video taken by conservationists BirdLife during the last spring hunting season.

In various videos of hunters illegally shooting down the endangered Turtle-dove, despite the hunting season only allowing the shooting of Quail, the video of the child holding what could be her father’s rifle is a shocking picture of lax controls on hunters’ activities.

The video was shot at Miżieb, where a girl is seen walking with the shotgun in her hands behind bales of straw being used as a hunting hide.

Moments later the hunter walks up to the bales where he takes the shotgun and then hands it back to her. He walk away from the hide.

Later the hunter takes the gun and reloads it, and hands it back to the minor, suggesting that the girl is clearly holding a loaded shotgun, possibly a case of underage and unlicensed hunting.

The video is now being analysed by police to decide on what steps will be taken against the hunter.

Birdlife said that results from this year’s spring hunting season to be sent to the European Commission prove the derogation from the EU ban on spring hunting provided a smokescreen 

for the illegal hunting of vulnerable Turtle-doves. 

Over 167 illegalities were observed by an average of two BirdLife Malta teams during the three-week season. A total of 50 illegally shot protected birds recovered, 18 of which were Turtle-doves. 

BirdLife said there was a staggering 65% of active hunters observed hunting Turtle-doves, with only 21% seen genuinely hunting for Quail, and police presence noticed only in 11% of the hunting hotspots visited. 

According to WBRU statistics, 86% of licence-holders did not declare catching a single Quail. 

“The season which came to a close a week ago was a spring hunting season on Turtle-dove,” CEO Mark Sultana said. “Results obtained from this year’s three-week spring hunting season prove that the derogation to hunt Quail was just a deliberate smokescreen.” 

Sultana said the government deliberately chose the season dates aware of the Quail hunting season coinciding with the peak migration of Turtle-dove; while also aware that police had numerical and tactical difficulties in apprehending hunters targeting Turtle-doves. 

“Assistance to enforcement authorities from the Wild Birds Regulation Unit (WBRU) – which was illegally placed under the Ministry for Gozo – remained absent throughout the season. 

“Police presence compared to the intensity of hunting turned out to be weak, with BirdLife Malta teams only noticing the presence of police officers in just 11% of the hunting hotspots visited. Administrative Law Enforcement (ALE) police officers were only assisted by a small number of extra officers which means that the seven officers per 1,000 hunters during hunting hours as requested by the derogation could hardly be met.” 

As a result strict supervision could not be guaranteed to 6,148 hunters granted the licence to hunt, Sultana said. 

Turtle-dove hunting hotspots such as Miżieb and Aħrax were heavily frequented by hunters during this period and it is unknown whether police carried out road-blocks successfully in such areas despite BirdLife Malta’s request to do so. 

BirdLife also said hunting holidays in Gozo, a mecca for Turtle-dove hunting, saw Maltese hunters allowed to freely travel to Gozo for this purpose. 

Statistics issued by WBRU to the ORNIS Committee earlier this week confirmed that the vast majority of hunters were in fact not hunting Quail. “86% of licence-holders did not declare catching a single Quail despite being allowed three weeks to do so,” Sultana said. 

“We had already provided our arguments to the European Commission on how a hunting season for Common Quail based on hunters not reporting their catches last autumn was unjustified... BirdLife Malta reiterates its position that spring hunting for Turtle-dove has no future in Malta and the European Union (EU), and the Maltese Government should be held accountable for letting this happen. We now expect the European Commission to take action against Malta.”