Hunters’ drone drama a storm in a teacup, says CABS

The Campaign Against Bird Slaughter has accused hunters' lobby FKNK of airing "ill-founded allegations, xenophobia, intimidation, and empty bluster" over the use of a model aircraft used to film illegal hunting.

The German-based anti-poaching society, which runs a regular spring hunting monitor camp in Malta, said the statements by hunters demanding data protection probes and other investigations into the legality of the drone, were misleading the public and trying to intimidate witnesses and opponents of illegal hunting and trapping.

"The public stance taken by the FKNK on the TV feature on illegal hunting in Malta and the filming of illegal active trapping installations from the air is a potpourri of ill-founded allegations, xenophobia, intimidation of those with other views and empty bluster," CABS board member David Conlin said.

Conlin said that police were present during the plane-flying, as the illegal active sites were detected, and allowed police to conduct the necessary follow-up investigations such as seizure of nets and illegally trapped birds.

Conlin said the 'drone' used to film the hunters was a model aircraft made of polystyrene and weighing some 1.5 kilogrammes, powered by a battery-driven propeller and equipped with high resolution cameras. "None of its components are of a military nature and comparisons with events that took place nearly 70 years ago are far-fetched and invidious. The device was brought to Malta by the RTL TV station in order to take birds' eye view pictures of illegal trapping sites."

The plane was operated by a Swiss electronics engineer under the auspices of RTL. "The role of CABS was to advise the operator on possible locations of illegal trapping sites as well as to analyse the footage filmed by the device," Conlin said.

 "We have entrusted a Maltese lawyer's office with the task of obtaining all the necessary permits and permissions," Conlin said, promising that CABS would deploy the 'eye in the sky' yet again on future activities.

"CABS plan to bring several of their own devices to Malta and offer their use to support the police  in their duties of combating poaching wildlife crime on the islands," Conlin said.

The organisation also said a Gozitan member of CABS, who had been named by FKNK secretary-general Lino Farrugia, had recently had threats made openly against himself and his family by hunters.

"The violence against birdwatchers shown in the RTL feature, as well as the offensively and xenophobic attack on CABS, RTL and their Maltese supporters, are strongly reminiscent of the methods employed by certain illegal organisations against 'traitors' who break the code of secrecy or make public the illegal activities of their members," Conlin said.

"The call by the FKNK yesterday for the sacking of the curator of the Natural History Museum on Mdina, who spoke out against illegal hunting in the RTL documentary, is in his opinion yet another example of this type of aggressive information management."