BirdLife claims hunters have already surpassed turtle dove spring quota

Updated at 4.45pm with statement from Wild Bird Regulation Unit

BirdLife Malta believes that only a week into the spring hunting season for turtle dove, which opened on 17 April, the 1,500 quota had already been exceeded.

BirdLife based its claims on the migrating numbers of turtle doves and the intensity of hunting activity witnessed since the opening of the season. The spring hunting season ends on 30 April, or before if the bag limits for the huntable birds is reached earlier.

BirdLife said there was a higher participation of hunters this season observable through their movements and occupation of spaces normally accessible to the public.

The bird conservation group described various illegalities like the use of banned electronic callers as contributing factors in the large-scale killing of turtle doves.

BirdLife Malta CEO Mark Sultana stated: “There isn’t a doubt in our minds and in the minds of anyone else with some common sense that the data submitted by hunters related to their catches is purposely under-declared in order for the season to remain open irrespective of the number of turtle doves hunted.”

Sultana said under-declaring was a common tactic he’d seen before. “We have to stop beating around the bush and call this farce a farce.” Sultana said that assuming that every day during the first week of the season, only 400 hunters had caught just one bird each on each day of the week, even such a conservative scenario would equate to 2,800 turtle doves being shot, nearly double the national hunting bag limit for this species.

BirdLife say their teams have counted over 300 shots in a single morning from one location. The NGO also noted that the Wild Birds Regulation Unit (WBRU), tasked with processing all the data from hunters declaring their catches, still hasn’t managed to secure the participation of hunters in its game reporting system.

Data shows that ‘red-listed’ turtle dove numbers continue to decline in Europe. The bird was deemed vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). This year, an EU Task Force appointed by the European Union on the Recovery of Birds had even requested that turtle dove hunting be made illegal across all EU Member States. Government and WBRU officials were aware of this but chose to open the season anyway. Birdlife regards this decision as nothing more than barefaced political appeasement and a willful disregard of clear scientific warnings pertinent to bird populations that form a part of the ecosystem.

BirdLife described the current spring hunting season as “nothing more than an uncontrolled deliberate and indiscriminate cull of a species facing extinction, under the guise of a derogation to a Birds Directive aimed at conserving Europe’s birdlife.

Wild Bird Regulation Unit denies that the quota was reached

In a statement on Thursday afternoon the Wild Bird Regulation Unit within the Gozo Ministry said it was continously monitoring the spring hunting season and denied the claims by BirdLife that the quota had been reached.

"It does not result that the quota of 1,500 turtle doves has been reached, as publically stated by BirdLife Malta," the Wild Bird Regulation Unit said.