Malta raptor camp – An eyewitness account of illegal hunting in Malta
A search of woodland revealed the carcasses of more than 200 protected birds hidden amongst the rocks, including this rotting hoopoe. Photo credit Gavin Bennett.
For the past two years I have attended Birdlife Malta's Raptor camp, an annual event populated by volunteers from Europe and beyond. The aim of the camp is to monitor bird migration during the peak period and to deter and report any illegal hunting of protected species.
Illegal hunting and trapping of protected birds is still a big problem in Malta (as in other Mediterranean countries) and one that is hard to combat. As well as legal hunting for species such as turtle dove and quail for the pot(both currently declining across Europe) there is a long standing archaic practice of hunting for personal taxidermy collections, with raptors and other large species being top trophies. On top of this are those shooting indiscriminately at anything that flies just for fun or out of sheer boredom (There are more than 10,000 other registered hunters on an island barely 300 km²), and those who trap finches and waders for personal collections of live birds.
Spurred on by recent events witnessed by volunteers and birdlife staff at their current springwatch camp and a recent post by serial bird blogger/podcaster Charlie Moores, I decided to write a little on my experience in Malta to hopefully raise awareness of the situation there and to drum up support for Birdlife Malta and for Charlie's ideas to try and promote the cause further.
How to stop hunting in Malta - Worth more alive than dead.
Outrage and helplessness
My first visit to Malta was in September 2009, when I had booked up quite blindly to attend Raptor camp, hoping for a good experience whilst contributing to a positive project and hopefully improving my raptor identification skills on the way. The trip managed to fulfil all of these aims however I was left with a much stronger feeling, one of outrage and helplessness, having witnessed first hand the shocking behaviour of some of the hunting fraternity in the country and having heard stories of past crimes and ongoing problems.
200 Honey buzzards & Marsh harriers
I did get some breathtaking views of up to 200 Honey buzzards and Marsh harriers circling my head, and countless sightings of black kites, hoopoes, Eleonora's falcons and a many other species were unforgettable, but two events stuck with me more than any others. A visit to Malta's natural history museum in the impressive ex-capital city of Mdina provided me with the opportunity to view the 'freezers of death'. As exciting as they sound they are actually quite depressing; a series of chest freezers stuffed to the brim with the carcasses of protected species that have either been found dead and dying around the Maltese countryside, or have been confiscated from law breakers. The museum also boasted row upon row of archive cabinets stuffed with taxidermy that had been confiscated or relinquished from private collections. This section included birds from small passerines up to an American White Pelican, and everything in between!
The Museum of Natural History in Malta boasts dozens of confiscated specimens. Photo Birdlife Malta.
Protected birds from all over the world
On top of the problem of poaching within Malta it was disturbing to hear about the myriad of packages seized at airports and postal depots in Malta that contained fresh skins of protected birds from all over the world, presumably destined for private taxidermy collections. There are also reports that Maltese poachers have been apprehended in Egypt with protected bird carcasses.
Dozens of bird carcasses found hidden in woods
On the last day of my time in Malta, a gathering of frantic volunteers saw us being led to Mizieb, the second-largest area of mature woodland in Malta and an area managed by the FKNK, Malta's main hunting organisation. It emerged that another organisation which runs bird conservation camps in Malta and beyond, the Committee Against Bird Slaughter (CABS), had observed an osprey being shot and its members had entered the woodland to search for bird. While searching they found a number of carcasses and skeletons hidden under rocks, in crevices and under rubbish. It was decided to join forces and attempt to search the woodland, and during the afternoon and the following day the two groups searched about one third of the woodland and found more than 200 birds of protected species that had been shot. The gruesome tally consisted of 35 night herons, 3 unidentified herons, 38 marsh harriers, 33 falcons, 18 honey buzzards, 49 skeletons of unidentified raptors, 3 kestrels, 1 nightingale, 1 golden oriole, 4 racing pigeons, 3 hoopoes and 4 nightjars.
Assault on CABS staff
My second visit to the raptor camp left me with equally poignant memories. We undertook a second search in the Mizieb area in an effort to highlight the lack of action taken by authorities. This search ended abruptly after a violent confrontation, culminating in an assault on one of the CABS staff members by a man who turned out to be a council member for the FKNK. The offender was subsequently found guilty of 'insulting and attempting to assault'.
The tally of dead birds found came to around 70 more carcasses, from a much smaller search area than before; who knows what the rest of the woodland and its crevices hold.
A flock of spoonbills caused great excitement amongst Maltese hunters, and many were shot. Photo Gavin Bennett.
The event that had the biggest impact on me personally was the arrival of a flock of 24 Spoonbills on the island. Having been spotted earlier in the day by myself and a conservation officer from BirdLife Malta, they were observed by various teams across the island and finally chose to rest in front of the hotel in which we were staying, opposite a bird sanctuary. Having been in court during the morning, I had missed the afternoon observation sessions and found myself flying solo on the roof of the hotel with my binoculars and a video camera. It wasn't long before a traffic jam appeared on the road adjacent to the field where the birds were, and I feared the worst as I videoed the flock and spoke to other teams on the phone.
The wildlife crimes unit of the Maltese police, ALE, were called and promptly arrived to guard the birds. As the light faded the birds were disturbed from their roost; a team of volunteers attempted in vain to follow them as they flew around the island. News of their arrival had obviously spread amongst the hunting community and, come morning, only 14 birds remained with three having visible gunshot wounds.
Spoonbills shot
The following day, both the teams and the police continued to observe the birds, which had returned to the area near the hotel. Nine birds left the island later in the day, with five birds, including the visibly injured birds, staying behind. These remaining five were relentlessly pestered by people who threw rocks and set fires nearby in an attempt to move the birds on from where they were settled. More shots were heard that night in the area were the Spoonbills had last been seen; the fate of the birds is uncertain. It was heart-breaking to see the injured birds that day. Malta is the only place I have visited where I hoped I would not see such amazing birds, wishing that they had chosen a different migration route.
A Montagu's harrier that was shot in Malta. Photo credit Gavin Bennett.
During the spring migration camp, BirdLife reported flocks of Marsh harriers hunted by lamplight as they roosted and a Montagu's harrier that was seen being shot (The bird was later retrieved by police). Injured birds were brought into the BirdLife office by members of the public, including a Cuckoo, a Black kite and a Purple heron. The most emotive story, however, came with the arrival of 200 White Storks on the island in mid-March. The island was reportedly alive with gunfire as the birds sought to find a safe roost site.
Six storks were witnessed being shot, and a handful of dead or dying individuals were also recovered, some directly from the hunters themselves.
Stop press - Maltese hunters jailed for killing white storks
How to stop illegal hunting?
Illegal hunting and trapping in Malta is difficult to solve. Under-resourced in attempting to monitor thousands of hunters, the small teams of ALE officers are in need of more resources if they are effectively to tackle the problem of illegal hunting.
The ALE is aided by BirdLife, along with its volunteers, and by members of the public who report illegal activity, but even this, it seems, is an ineffective deterrent. It is the government itself that needs to be held to account; it has continued to oppose the guidance given in the European Union's Birds Directive and has already been fined for breaching EU law by allowing spring hunting of Quail and Turtle Dove in 2004-2007.
You can help - Donate or join the camp
If my experiences have left you feeling the need to contribute to the work of BirdLife
Malta, there are a number of things you can do. The easiest is to become a member of BirdLife Malta and pump some much-needed funding into their efforts. Additionally, you could enquire about their spring and autumn conservation camps and get involved, as I did, acting as a visible protest against the law-breakers. Staying closer to home, writing a letter to your local MP or MEP requesting that pressure be put on Malta at an international level to clean up its act is a good starting point.
Gavin Bennett. June 2011
