Armed Forces rescues flamingo

The Armed Forces of Malta have rescued an injured Greater Flamingo which was found afloat at sea near Ghallis yesterday afternoon.

The injured bird, shot at by poachers, was picked up buy an AFM patrol boat and handed to Administrative Law Enforcement (ALE) personnel who took it to a vet.

A flock of Greater Flamingos were shot by at least one illegal hunter standing on the shoreline at Qawra in full view of people passing, as the flock flew overhead across Salina Bay this morning, according to BirdLife Malta.

Three are thought to have been killed, falling into the sea, while two others landed injured. A third injured flamingo was also seen flying very low around Mellieha Bay this morning.

A flock of around 40 flamingos was first spotted yesterday in the south heading north, following the coastline as far as St Paul's Bay, where the birds are believed to have roosted overnight near St Paul's Islands.  

BirdLife alone has recovered 40 dead protected birds over the last four weeks and observed around 200 protected birds being shot at and flying with gunshot injuries. "These figures only scrape the surface of the true extent of illegal hunting in Malta," BirdLife conservation manager Nick Barbara said. "The authorities do not publish the number of shot protected birds they receive and many more are never found as the evidence is destroyed by the poachers. It appears that nowhere in Malta is immune to illegal hunting. Only yesterday a BirdLife team recovered a shot Night Heron a few metres from the Prime Minister's residence," Barbara said.

The flamingo is a protected species, while national law allows for the hunting of 41 species from land and 13 species at sea. All other species are protected by national law.

The hunting season is presently being monitored by volunteers from Birdlife Malta and recently, the German-based Committee Against Bird Slaughter.