[WATCH] BirdLife Malta requests police protection over increase in threats and intimidation

NGO BirdLife Malta has requested police protection after claiming to have been the victim of “escalating threats and intimidation.”

“The organisation has faced vandalism and physical attacks in the past and is now facing online harassment, including posts by the hunters and trappers federation misusing its logo and personal images to incite abuse,” BirdLife Malta said in a Facebook post.

In a video accompanying the statement, NGO CEO Mark Sultana said critics of BirdLife Malta are posting personal photos of members on online fora.

He even said his car tyres have been slashed in the past in an attempt to intimidate him, but he will not stop working.

“Despite attacks from the Federation for Hunting, Trapping, and Conservation (FKNK), which has even labelled us an "extremist faction," BirdLife Malta reaffirms its commitment to defending nature through democratic and legal means,” the NGO said.

Condemning the hostility, BirdLife Malta called on government to take a stand against the intimidation.

“The FKNK must take responsibility for rhetoric that is fueling threats against those working in conservation,” the statement concluded.

Replying under the Facebook post, NGO Malta Ranger Unit, which has also been subject to attacks and threats, said impunity among poachers and environmental criminals is in the increase, “with the decision makers sending a signal that environmental protection isn't a priority.”

“Gozo without EPU police, Malta with limited EPU police, environmental entities fragmented... List is long. Everything seemingly aimed at making it hard to report, and once reporting there is so much impunity that the offenders feel boosted to have a go at persons who report them,” the comment read.