‘Illegal hunters get away with murder’ - BirdLife

BirdLife Malta said today that it has not seen the increased policing in the countryside promised by the government at the beginning of the month and "illegal hunters continued to get away with shooting protected birds."

"We have seen this week that when police have a visible presence hunters are deterred from committing illegalities," Raptor Camp coordinator, Christian Debono said.

However he added that "as soon as patrols are absent, so is the incentive for hunters to exercise self-control and refrain from shooting at protected birds."

BirdLife said that numbers of raptors migrating through Malta this week had been relatively low due to a strong north-westerly Mistral wind, but it was still seeing and receiving reports from members of public of other protected birds, such as Bee-eaters and swallows, being targeted, and had recovered several shot protected birds, including Honey Buzzards, Marsh Harriers and Night Herons.

While birdwatchers noted the presence of mounted police in the Buskett area and the secondment of Armed Forces of Malta personnel and vehicles to form units with Administrative Law Enforcement officers, the number of patrols and officers observed suggests there have been far fewer resources allocated to enforcement of the hunting season than a statement by the Parliamentary Secretary for Animal Rights Roderick Galdes promised.

Raptor Camp teams monitoring the hunting season visited an average of eight different locations around Malta in the morning and afternoon between 15 and 20 September and recorded a maximum of just twelve officers patrolling in five vehicles in any one shift.

"Although this represents a small increase over last year, it was still a long way shy of the 80-100 officers promised by the Parliamentary Secretariat," Debono said.

He added that while the police response to reported incidents was positive, the low number of officers patrolling the countryside this week was disappointing given that increasing numbers of police was supposed to be one of the measures taken to offset the extension of hunting hours in the afternoon.

"Such a small number of patrols cannot possibly police hunting across the island adequately to prevent protected birds being killed," Debono said.

"As BirdLife and our volunteers at these camps have learned through experience, gathering sufficient evidence to secure prosecution for serious crimes like shooting a protected bird is difficult enough when you are right on the spot and have several eye witnesses."

Earlier this week, three Raptor Camp volunteers witnessed two Honey Buzzards being shot down in quick succession in the south of the island just before 4pm.

Before the birdwatchers could take any photos or record video of the incidents, one of the shooters picked up the bird and disappear with it.

The volunteers immediately called the police, who arrived at the location twenty minutes later.

Despite searching the area where the birds had been shot down and interviewing several of the suspects, including the man who had been seen picking up the bird, the police didn't find the body and no arrest was made.