Spring hunting injunction court hearing set for next week

A court will next week start hearing submissions over BirdLife’s request for an injunction that calls for the suspension of a legal notice permitting the hunting of turtle dove in spring.

The case will now start before Madame Justice Audrey Demicoli on Tuesday.

The application for the injunction, filed on Monday, asks the courts to order the Prime Minister, the Environment Minister, the Minister for Gozo as well as the Wild Birds Regulation Unit (WBRU) to immediately close the spring hunting season. The season is expected to open on Sunday and end on 30 April with hunters being allowed to shoot 1,500 turtle dove.

A moratorium on turtle dove hunting in spring was introduced in 2017 after the European Commission threatened action on the basis that the species is vulnerable. However, the hunting advisory committee, Ornis,  last month recommended that the moratorium be lifted in favour of a spring hunting season between 17 and 30 April that included turtle dove, apart from quail.

In a press conference held outside the courts shortly after the application for the injunction was filed, BirdLife representatives said the decision to open the spring hunting season for turtle dove this year had been the result of “years of pressure from hunting organisations,” despite the bird being listed as a vulnerable species.