BirdLife welcomes increased penalties for shooting and trapping

BirdLife Malta welcomed this afternoon’s announcement by the government that new tougher mandatory penalties for the most serious offences against wildlife- the shooting and trapping of “highly protected species” of birds.

“In light of the years that BirdLife Malta and other conservation organisations have been campaigning for better legal protection for wild birds from the threat of direct persecution in Malta, we hope that this will act as an improved deterrent to would-be poachers,” conservation manager Nicholas Barbara said.

The conservation organisation said it also looked forward to the instatement of the long-awaited wildlife crime unit, as well as a review of the tactics employed by police to detect, gather evidence against and apprehend illegal hunters and trappers.

“It has long been apparent that the police are not equipped to deal with the problem they are facing,” Barbara said. “Addressing this is essential to ensuring that the higher fines for those convicted will be effective.”

In the past 36 hours, illegal hunters have been targeting protected birds around Malta and Gozo in apparent disregard of the law and the current level of enforcement or existing penalties for convicted offenders.

“Since Sunday morning we have witnessed the shooting of several protected bird species that have been seen migrating through the islands, including highly protected White Storks, and birds of prey such as Marsh Harriers and kestrels,” Barbara said.

aware of the authorities having apprehended any suspects in relation to any of this weekend’s incidents, and put this down to overstretched personnel in the ALE not having the capacity to respond to or prevent so many incidents across the length and breadth of the islands.

“It is clear that unchecked illegal hunting and trapping are still the rule in Malta, not the exception,” Barbara said.

“It is not just rare birds like the White Storks this weekend or the eagles in October. From the commoner Marsh Harrier to the smaller finches, the reality is that at any point in time these birds are at risk of being shot or trapped.”

On Saturday evening, the government published a report suggesting that decreases in the detection and successful prosecution of illegal hunting and trapping offences in 2013 compared with the previous years pointed to an actual decrease in illegal hunting and trapping.

But this conclusion is not supported by the evidence gathered by BirdLife and CABS’s monitoring activities in spring and autumn, or by the proliferation of cases of rare protected birds being targeted by poachers in the countryside of Malta and Gozo, and the lack of successful convictions in most of these cases.

“The fact remains that whatever the penalties for those people who are convicted, it is a long way from the countryside to the courtroom,” Barbara said.