BirdLife condemns spring hunting

BirdLife Malta said that even before the opening of the season today, hunters were already killing protected birds on migration.

Spring was the birds' breeding period that replenished and sustained bird populations and that was why the EU prohibited its member states to hunt birds at that time, it said.

But because of a concession obtained by the Maltese government in its EU negotiations, Malta stood out as the shameful exception to this rule.

BirdLife warned that, contrary to hunting at other times of the year, the law only allows the taking of two species at this time of the year and these were the turtle dove (gamiema) and the quail (summiena).

Society activists, however, were already reporting the shooting down of migrating protected birds like grey herons, kestrels and marsh harriers days before the hunting season was under way, not to mention the shooting of birds from seacraft which has been going on throughout winter, BirdLife said.