Join the campaign against illegal hunting in Malta

Honey buzzard shot and killed in Malta.

January 2010. BirdLife Malta (BirdLife Partner) and the BirdLife International Partners in Europe and Africa have launched an international campaign aimed at Maltese Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi demanding the proper enforcement of the EU Birds Directive, which has been largely ignored since EU membership. Significant part of this campaign is an international petition, which can be signed here.

Turtle dove & quail
BirdLife Partners are demanding an end to the illegal killing of migratory protected birds that are regularly shot over Malta. BirdLife also demands that the Maltese Government ensures that a spring hunting and trapping season for European Turtle-dove and Common Quail is never re-opened on the island.

"Illegal hunting in Malta is a serious concern for the BirdLife International Partnership because of the scale of the illegal activity and lack of efficient governmental action against it", commented Angelo Caserta - Regional Director of BirdLife International European Division in Brussels.

"BirdLife is not against legal hunting and we do not endorse any sort of tourism boycott against Malta as wrongly claimed by the hunting lobby. It is not those who are calling for an end to illegal hunting that are giving Malta a bad name but rather the poachers who are shooting down the same birds other countries are investing millions of euros to protect. The authorities insist on downplaying the true scale of poaching and refrain from taking effective action to end this practice" he added.

12,000 hunters on Malta
There are around 12,000 hunters on the small island - the highest density of hunters per square kilometre in Europe. Maltese hunters can legally hunt 32 species in autumn and they have the longest bird hunting season in Europe, which lasts five months.

Birds from 48 countries migrate over Malta
Due to its strategic location on the European-African migration route, Malta has a long and impressive list of bird species with a total 389 species recorded. Of these, over 170 occur regularly flying over Malta in significant numbers.

Scientific ringing studies carried out by BirdLife Malta since the 1960s have shown that birds from at least 48 countries (36 in Europe and 12 in Africa) use Malta during their migration.

200 protected birds killed
Conservationists in Malta have long been recording the widespread illegal shooting of protected birds every migration period in spring and autumn. Last September, BirdLife Malta discovered the buried remains of over 200 dead protected birds in woodland in the north of the island that is heavily used by hunters.

Hunters in Malta seem to be very indiscriminate with their hunting.

"Illegal hunting in Malta is a serious concern for BirdLife International because of ... lack of efficient governmental action against it" -Angelo Caserta, Regional Director, BirdLife International European Division

The remains included Western Marsh-harrier, European Honey-buzzard and Black-crowned Night-heron among others. To this date no one has been charged and no statement has been made by the authorities.
"The lack of concrete and effective action against the illegal hunting of birds, by the Maltese government, is detrimental to the commitment and momentum within the BirdLife Africa Partnership to conserve, educate and most importantly advocate for increased law enforcement, by governments, for the protection of migratory birds", said Dr Paulinus Ngeh - BirdLife's West Africa Sub-regional Coordinator.

Thousands of protected birds killed every year
BirdLife Malta believes that thousands of protected birds including rare raptors such as Near Threatened Pallid Harrier, Lesser Spotted Eagle and Vulnerable Lesser Kestrel, as well as herons, storks and other protected birds are illegally gunned down each year.

Bob Elliot, Head of Investigations for RSPB Scotland (BirdLife in the UK), witnessed the illegal shooting of birds in Malta during BirdLife Malta's conservation camps. He said: "Malta is the only place where you do not want to see a raptor flying low as it will definitely be shot at in the absence of conservationists or police in the area".

Appalled with the scale of illegal hunting and trapping in Malta
Mr Elliot said he was appalled with the scale of illegal hunting and trapping in Malta. "In Scotland, we record an average of 60 cases of wild bird crime every year. In Malta, BirdLife recorded over 2,100 incidents in 2008 alone. Scotland is 250 times the size of Malta and has the worst reputation in terms of wild life crimes in the whole of the UK, but Malta still stands in a league of its own", he added.

Defying European Court of Justice ruling
In spite of a poor track record in law enforcement for the protection of migratory birds, the Maltese government is once again considering the opening of the spring hunting season for European Turtle Dove and Common Quail. It will do so in defiance of a European Court of Justice ruling that found Malta in breach of the Birds Directive for allowing spring hunting of European Turtle-dove and Common Quail since it joined the EU.

BirdLife Malta President Joseph Mangion concluded: "Malta has shown it cannot meet the conditions of a derogation for another spring hunting season. Every time the government opens the season for limited hunting, it opens the door for hunters to kill protected species. Action has long been overdue. It is now time for the politics to come in line with the law."

The international petition can be signed here.

Courtesy of Birdlife