Illegal hunting of turtle-doves dominates start of spring hunting season

BirdLife Malta warned that in less than a week since the opening of the spring hunting season, it had been inundated with calls from the general public about rampant illegal hunting.

The NGO said callers had witnessed protected birds, including European Turtle-doves, being shot down, with an incident in Ghasri, Gozo making the rounds on social media.

“In the meantime, BirdLife Malta teams documented at least two incidents of hunters shooting down protected turtle-doves and reported these to the police,” BirdLife Malta said.

The NGO said on the same day it also received a protected Common Cuckoo with gunshot injuries.

Common Cuckoo brought to BirdLife with gunshot injuries

“While there was never a doubt that the spring hunting derogation for Common Quail during the peak migration of turtle-dove was an intentional smokescreen, the incidents of illegal hunting witnessed with the first signs of turtle-dove migration mean that the European Commission will not have much choice but to proceed with the legal infringements against this derogation,” BirdLife Malta said.

It said it would be documenting all these incidents to submit a report to the European Commissioner for the Environment, Virginijus Sinkevičius, for further action.

The NGO thanked the general public for its assistances and urged those who witness illegal hunting to report it to the police on 119 and to BirdLife Malta on 7925 5697.