[WATCH] BirdLife to expand in Gozo after 170 illegalities identified in autumn hunting season

BirdLife Malta aims to expand its operations more strongly in Gozo, with over 170 illegalities identified by the NGO’s volunteers during the autumn hunting season.

In a press conference on Thursday, BirdLife Malta President Darryl Grima was joined by CEO Mark Sultana and Head of Conservation Nicholas Barbara to give an overview of the illegalities witnessed by BirdLife Malta’s Raptor Camp.

They played footage taken by volunteers of several protected birds that were found injured or dead. In some of the footage, the birds could be seen being shot and falling to the ground.

Sultana pointed out that the footage is just the tip of the iceberg. While volunteers saw some birds falling to the ground, not all of them were recovered. He said some of them might have been kept by the hunters.

“There wasn’t a single shift when we didn’t find an illegality,” Barbara said. In all, over 170 illegalities were witnessed by volunteers over the past three weeks.

Barbara pointed out that hunters and trappers were making rampant use of electronic callers. “The objective is to attract birds for hunters, or in some cases like with nightjars to attract protected species. You’re not allowed to shoot at these species, let alone use callers to attract them.”

28 birds were recovered by BirdLife Malta, including a Greater Flamingo that was shot down off the coast of Gozo.

BirdLife Malta said it managed to cover more land and locations than the police did to identify potential illegalities. Barbara said it was clear that the Environmental Protection Unit (EPU) was understaffed and low on resources.

“It seems that the EPU at times had only one vehicle available for the whole island. In fact, there were times when police could not attend immediately to our calls since they were tied down with another incident.”

But in Gozo, police enforcement was practically absent, he said. “If BirdLife Malta is capable of seeing so many illegalities, why can’t the police? Why is the police so reactive?”

Because of this, BirdLife Malta will look to increase its presence in Gozo in the months and years to come.

Sultana questioned whether the lack of police presence in Gozo had anything to do with Gozo Minister Clint Camilleri, who happens to be the minister responsible for hunting.

Towards the end of the conference, Sultana revealed that the Ornis committee voted to renew a controversial bird-trapping “research” project that circumvented EU conservation rules.

He said that the committee tried to justify the decision by arguing that police have the necessary enforcement to serve as a watch-dog on this derogation.

This research scheme is a controversial one, with Brussels taking Malta to the European Court for breaching the Birds Directive.