Government’s inaction over hunting season illegalities raises questions

It is clear that a stronger law enforcement agency within the police force is needed to work closely with NGOs to safeguard birds and nature, particularly in view of the 'massacre' of protected birds in the six weeks since the opening of the autumn hunting season, according to BirdLife Malta CEO Mark Sultana.

The establishment of a dedicated Wildlife Crime Unit would go a long way to make up for the lack of enforcement and the government's failure to take a position on incidents of illegal hunting of protected species, which led to an increase in the number of illegalities recorded during this hunting season.

Sultana, who was addressing a press conference in which he listed the illegalities reported so far this season, said that the government had ignored calls to suspend the season after the first illegalities had been report.

Contrary to what it did last year, the government deferred the issue to the Ornis committee, leading to widespread instances of illegal hunting, Sultana said.

"Is it a coincidence that the government is not willing to take any action? Could the upcoming general elections be the reason?" he asked. "BirdLife Malta fears that after this year's lack of action, next year will be worse as the date of the election gets nearer."

According to Sultana, 32 protected birds were reported killed this season, which opened on 1 September, the last one being a peregrine hawk on Monday.

The peregrine falcon shot on Monday was the 32nd protected bird killed so far this season

“Although we have 100 hunters who utilise cameras when hunting, we have to bear in mind that our small country has 10,000 hunters who do not think twice to break the law if and when they are aware that enforcement is lacking so they can get away with it,” he said.

Sultana said the authorities had admitted that enforcement had been slow on the uptake this year because migration of raptors peaked earlier than usual.

He also criticised the publication of the legal notice issued earlier this month announcing the bird-trapping season from 20 October, while government was still facing legal action by the European Commission over allowing the trapping of seven species of finch.

Repeated attempts by MaltaToday to get comments from Ornis Committee chairman on the illegalities have proved to be futile. The Office of the Prime Minister has reiterated that it is up to the Ornis Committee to recommend a suspension of the autumn hunting season, if it feels the need.

Kaccaturi San Ubertu reaction

In a statement, Kaccaturi San Ubertu (KSU) strongly condemned the shooting of protected bird species and said that one of its members had reported shots fired on the peregrine falcon that was killed in the limits of Rabat this week.

The bird had subsequently been seen falling in Mqabba centre due to its injuries and no gun shots were heard.

The incident was being investigated by the police, KSU said.

It contested Birdlife Malta’s allegations that there was no or little enforcement during this autumn hunting season.

“KSU attests that, given the current resources, enforcement was never better than at present and commend the police and all involved for their excellent work,” the statement read.

It had already proposed the setting up of a warden unit to tackle all environmental crime and supplement existing resources, and was still awaiting a reply from government.

KSU insisted that the majority of hunters abided by the law and considered illegalities as being detrimental to their legal practice.

It urged all hunters and members of the public to report any illegal incidents to the police on 119.