[WATCH] Poachers kill protected Honey Buzzards near Buskett and Has-Saptan

Video footage published by the Committee Against Bird Slaughter (CABS) shows a protected Honey Buzzard being shot down by a poacher near Buskett Gardens last Friday.

The footage shows the low-flying bird over Tal-Virtù heading towards the Buskett bird sanctuary where numerous other Honey Buzzards had already landed to roost that evening.

Suddenly a single shot can be heard, and the hit bird immediately starts to free fall to the ground.

A young Honey Buzzard sitting on th ground after being shot down near Buskett (27 Sept)

After the incident a man with a shotgun was filmed searching the area where the bird was downed. “We assume that the poacher noticed our team and then decided to leave and not retrieve the bird,” said CABS Wildlife Crime Officer Fiona Burrows.

After CABS met with officers of the Environmental Protection Unit (EPU), they were able to locate the critically injured bird in farmland where it was recovered by the officers. The video evidence was shown to the officers who managed to find and question the suspect.

In a separate incident, a CABS team witnessed the killing of another Honey Buzzard looking for shelter in the Has-Saptan valley on Monday morning.

“The incident was not filmed, and the bird could not be found,” CABS said, adding that its members also documented five cases of protected birds of prey with fresh wounds and feather damage typical of shotgun-injuries. The birds included two Peregrine Falcons, a Honey Buzzard and two Marsh Harriers. All were observed and photographed near Girgenti and Buskett Gardens.

Last week CABS called the police on another poacher who had been observed killing a protected Bee-Eater near Birzebugga.

Video of the suspect collecting and inspecting the bird and then callously throwing it away was handed over to the EPU who initiated criminal proceedings against the suspect.

On the l-Aħrax peninsula a known repeat-offender was filmed with a shotgun using an illegal electronic bird caller for protected Greenshanks and Redshanks down the cliffs.

The footage – which was also handed over to the EPU – shows the man with a shotgun and the illegal electronic lure in his hands. CABS said the suspect was identified and his bird caller found and subsequently confiscated, earning a €350 fine for the offence.
CABS praised the EPU for their quick response and professional cooperation with its teams.

It also highlighted the “sterling work” done by Birdlife Malta and the Malta Ranger Unit whose reports to the authorities have also led to the successful conviction of numerous shooters and trappers in the last weeks.

“Malta has gone a long way in the last 20 years and the scale of illegal bird killings has undoubtedly decreased since then. However, the recent cases show that despite a strong surveillance network formed by NGOs and the Police, there is still a good number of fanatics out there who are willing to take the risk,” CABS  Officer Axel Hirschfeld concluded.