.png)
BirdLife claims over 730 illegal incidents during Spring hunting
‘Government exploiting loopholes in the Birds Directive’- BirdLife Malta
4 May 2012, 12:00am
Matthew Vella
Matthew Vella
2 min read
A Bee-eater with a shotgun wound, recovered by BirdLife on 28 April: one of three illegally shot Bee-eaters received by BirdLife Malta during this years spring hunting season. Photo: Cally Higginbottom.
Over 730 illegal hunting incidents were recorded by BirdLife Malta's Spring Watch teams during the spring hunting season between 12th and 30th April, the conservation group has announced.
BirdLife said the figure is based on an initial analysis of the data gathered by its Spring Watch teams, and that it does not include illegalities recorded by the German-based Committee Against Bird Slaughter, which also conducted its own hunting monitoring campaign.
"The illegalities recorded by BirdLife include hunters targeting protected species, exceeding the season's legal daily bag limit, hunting outside permitted hours, and hunting without wearing the yellow armbands, a legal requirement of the derogation," BirdLife's conservation and policy officer Nick Barbara said.
Hunting for turtle dove and quail was allowed for two weeks under a derogation from the EU ban on spring hunting. BirdLife will be submitting a report of its monitoring to the European Commission in the coming weeks.
In addition, the conservation organisation received 14 shot protected birds since the opening of the spring hunting season, which compares with nine shot protected birds received during the same period in 2008 and 2009 together, when spring hunting was not permitted.
BirdLife said its teams witnessed over 50 instances of hunters shooting at protected birds, and observed more than 40 protected birds in flight with injuries consistent with shotgun fire.
"These figures are just a small indicator of the killing of protected species during their spring migration over Malta. We do not know how many shot protected birds were received by the police, the veterinary services, the National Museum of Natural History and other organisations," Barbara said.
"What we do know is that when a spring hunting season is opened, thousands of protected birds migrating to their breeding grounds in Europe are in peril over Malta. The government's denial of the scale of illegal hunting is only encouraging the poachers who year after year continue with their carnage with almost no scrutiny," Barbara said.
BirdLife said there was a very limited police presence compared to over 6,000 licensed hunters.
While the government announced that 50 police officers would control the activities of thousands of hunters, BirdLife recorded on average only four police vehicles on patrol at any given time.
"The 50 police officers officially quoted as enforcing the spring hunting derogation appear to have been working in shifts and sharing a handful of cars," Barbara said.
"Despite the best intentions of the under-resourced ALE Unit, a derogation permitting thousands of hunters has not been strictly supervised. This year's spring hunting derogation is yet another example of Malta deceiving the European Commission by exploiting the derogation loophole in the Birds Directive.
Matthew Vella, a freelance journalist at MaltaToday, was formerly executive editor at Malt...
•
Ghalija li mmur fil kampanja jew f'post li mhux fgatt bil bini bhal ta Sliema u postijiet ohra jew x'mkien li ma niblax dhahen u nehel fi "traffic jams" bhal ta kull filghodu dawk huma bizejjed biex nirilasa!! Isa ghal argument tieghek l hsejjes tal kampanja huma rilasanti vera imma xorta ma nhossx li hija haga ragunata li il- kaccaturi jkollom 15 il- gurnata minn sena shiha u xorta jibqaw ituhom u jatakawhom kif jaghmlu. Hafna nies jitkellmu mhux fuq dak li jaraw izda fuq x'jaqraw fuq Media u x jimaginaw !!Hadd ma jindenja jmur fil kampanja u jara x qieghed ikun ta detriment!!!! Jien kemm ili haj il-kacca minn dejjem niftakara u ghasafar dejjem kien hawn, li ma kienx hawn huwa bini esagerat , dhahen ,noise pollution ,traffic jams bhal ta kull filghodu,dwal ma kullimkien fil ghaxija , veleni fl arja u fil kampanja,dawk huma affarijiet li jistresjaw in-natura u il-bnidem minghajr ma jaf!!! Dan tistgha tarah jekk tihu statistika tal mard u stress ta' dawn l ahhar 30 years!!! Thinkahead jekk trid isalva l-ambjent u l-ghasafar x inhu l ahjar taqtgha il-kacca li kinet minn dejjem jew tikontrolla il-progress li dan l ahhar snin bidel il- Malta totalment milli kienet? Isa jekk jogbok tini int l-"smart answer" tieghek grazzi
•
@ggantno1
Who make the countryside more relaxe for you,if you want to go for a walk in the countryside,the birds killers or the singing birds,
?I want your smart answer.
•
@ggantno1
Who make the countryside more relaxe for you,if you want to go for a walk in the countryside,the birds killers or the singing birds,
?I want your smart answer.
•
@ggantno1
Who make the countryside more relaxe for you,if you want to go for a walk in the countryside,the birds killers or the singing birds,
?I want your smart answer.
•
Jien ma mmurx ghal kacca u laqas jien diletant pero li naf hu li Birdlife dejjem tgerger u tehoda kontra il-kaccaturi u tejd li tejdx kemm tara ligijiet jigu miksura , dwar il-pulizija kemm il- darba kont fil kampanja dejjem rajt vetturi tal pulizija iduru u nemmen li xoghol taghhom jaghmluh sew u bir reqqa!!!! Fl ahhar snin inbidlu bizejjed ligijiet dwar il-kacca u l-ambjent u Sur Thinkahead ahjar tibda tahseb with your head u tiftakar li il kacca kienet minn dejjem u hi dritt u mhux sew li mal hazien jehel it-tajjeb , ghax hemm hafna kaccaturi li joserva il-ligijiet. Il-hazin ghandu jigi ipenalizat imma ma tistax tigbor lil kulhadd f keffa wahda . Jien ghalija il-birdlife hi estremista f'dan is-suget u qatt ma hi kuntenta bizzejed bli tigwadanja. Jien nahseb li nuqas ta ghasafar mhux il-kaccaturi izda in-nuqas ta' ambjent u msagar li grazzi ghal progress inqerdu ,il-kimika li tintafgha fir raba biex toqtol l-insetti li jghamlu parti mill ikel ta tjur li meta jigu mitikla tidhol fis sistema ta' l ghasafar , dawn huma l affarijit li jeqirdu id-dinja u mhux ammont zghir ta'kaccaturi fi 15 il-gurnata!!! Izda bhal ma dejjem nghid il pariri ghal il-ligijiet dejjem minghand estremisti jew nies li ghandom introjtu mis-sugett
•
Can birdlife proof its numbers, otherwise they are allegagations ????
•
Sinjuri tal-Birdlife kif tistghu tghidu li l-gamiem u s-sumien li GHADDA minn Malta jinqatel. Tafu x'qalu tal-CANS? Li ftit li xejn raw l-ghasafar u dan ghax aktarx li biddlu r-rotta. Imma jekk ma jkollkomx alibi, ftit tistghu tkomplu b'xogholkom u tiehdu ghajnuna mill-UE> Bil-haqq jien m'inhiex kaċċattur izda jien Malti u ma rrid lil hadd ihammeg lil Malta b'allegazzjonijiet
•
What a beautiful bird. I wish i could have seen one alive. What is it now - but decayed flesh.
•
If the government did not open the spring hunting ,all the birds that were killed this spring are still alife,and they are nesting.So they killed thier ofspring as well,for every bird they kill, at least 4 birds did not born.SHAME SHAME.
•
If the government did not open the spring hunting ,all the birds that were killed this spring are still alife,and they are nesting.So they killed thier ofspring as well,for every bird they kill, at least 4 birds did not born.SHAME SHAME.
•
Nahseb li l-kaccaturi kellhom il-mobile bil-hsara ghax kieku kienu jibghat SMS lill-Prim! Certament din tal-SMS's ghad tibqa' tissemma bhal c-cajta tas-seklu u li tirrifletti l-faqar ta' mohh min gietu l-ideja s-sena l-ohra, u ta' min rega' rrepetiha din is-sena.
