Barn Owl released into the wild by hunting group is victim of illegal hunting

A Barn Owl bred in captivity and released into the wild by hunting group FKNK was shot by poachers in Żebbuġ, BirdLife said.

The bird was found at the St Dorothy’s School with a gunshot wound to its right wing and handed over to BirdLife by a member of the public.

A ring on the bird’s left leg indicated it formed part of the FKNK’s Barn Owl Reintroduction Project based in Buskett. The project breeds barn owls in captivity and gradually introduces them into the wild in the hope of establishing a resident population.

The irony of having a bird of prey released into the wild by a hunting organisation only to be illegally shot by would-be hunters was not lost on BirdLife. “Not even birds released by the hunters themselves are being spared from illegal hunting this autumn hunting season,” the bird conservation group said.

An examination by the government vet has confirmed that the bird suffered a gunshot wound, leading to a broken right wing.

BirdLife Malta CEO Mark Sultana called this incident “the tip of the iceberg” of what happens with illegal hunting. “It reminds us how destructive hunting is and how backwards in time we have gone when even the efforts of the hunting lobby to greenwash hunters’ activities, gets stained red in blood literally by hunters themselves,” Sultana said, adding this is “a far cry from true conservation”.

FKNK started the Barn Owl project in 2018 and it is funded by the government through the Wild Birds Regulation Unit (WBRU).

Its objective is to re-establish the species that was exterminated by illegal hunting throughout the years. Various pairs of Barn Owl used to breed in Malta and Gozo regularly until the 1980s.

The Barn Owls are bred and reared in captivity in a facility in Buskett, before being released back into the wild where it is hoped they will breed once again across the Maltese Islands.

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