Shocking bird slaughter continues in Malta – Mass bird graveyard found including 34 Marsh harriers

22/09/2009 12:08:50 Bird "Cemetery" found in Mizieb

A grisly discovery of the carcasses of 137 protected birds, such as marsh harriers and herons, has been made during a joint operation on Malta involving 40 birdwatchers from BirdLife Malta - the RSPB's partner in the islands - and the German-based Campaign Against Bird Slaughter (CABS).

34 Marsh harriers found dead
Over the weekend, the remains of the birds were found concealed among stones and rubbish in Mizieb, an area frequented by scores of hunters, in the north of the main island. The haul, so far, includes: 34 marsh harriers; 17 honey buzzards; 19 falcons, including kestrel and hobby; 29 herons; and 33 skeletons of birds of prey, the identity of which are still being determined. Some of the birds discovered were newly killed, while others were the remains of birds killed weeks or months earlier.

Both organisations, which are currently running separate bird protection and migration observation camps in Malta, stated that their volunteers observed protected birds being shot at while they were leaving their roost sites in the Mizieb area early.

Marsh Harriers, a Honey-buzzard, a Hoopoe, a Night Heron, a Hobby and a Nightingale found dead
Raptor Camp and CABS teams moved into the Mizieb hunting grounds shortly after 9am as hunting intensity

decreased. Volunteers began searching the area and found several freshly killed protected birds including Marsh Harriers, a Honey-buzzard, a Hoopoe, a Night Heron, a Hobby and a Nightingale, as well as remains of other protected species that were clearly killed and stashed in hiding places dotted around Mizieb, over the past few weeks and months.

The volunteers called the Maltese Wildlife Police unit (ALE) while continuing to search the area for more evidence. The ALE collected the bodies and the remains of the dead protected birds.

Tip of the iceberg
"What we have been witnessing is a sad reflection of the true scale of illegal hunting in Malta. What we have uncovered is only the tip of the iceberg, as the scope and range of our teams is limited and we can therefore only cover a small geographical area of the Maltese islands." said Axel Hirschfeld, CABS press officer.

Since raptor migration started to pick up this weekend, large numbers of birds of prey and herons have been on passage over the Maltese islands, while many others roosted to rest before continuing their journey to Africa.

CABS and BirdLife birdwatchers have also observed the shooting at and killing, of protected birds over the last few days as roosting birds attempted to leave for their long journey to their winter quarters.

Ospreys targetted
The illegal actions observed by CABS and BirdLife Raptor Camp teams over the last two days in several locations include the shooting at or killing of Ospreys, Honey Buzzards, Marsh Harriers, Bee-Eaters and Grey Herons.

Government must act
"We demand from the government that they stop claiming that illegal hunting is under some form of control and instead start treating this international conservation problem as a political priority. Sitting on the fence and pretending that this is a conflict between two sides will only exacerbate the problem." said Joseph Mangion, BirdLife Malta President.

BirdLife Malta restated their position that they are not against hunting in autumn as long as it is practised within the parameters of the law. On the other hand, CABS who have been campaigning for a moratorium of hunting of Turtle Dove and Quail because of their unfavourable conservation status in the EU, stated that their priority in Malta is combating the ongoing illegal killing of protected species and not a ban on hunting of these species in autumn.

BirdLife Malta and CABS called on the government to launch an inquiry into the appalling and large scale discovery of dead protected birds in Mizieb.