Badly injured birds put down

A fully-grown honey buzzard became the third protected bird to be put down by BirdLife in the past four weeks after it was brought to its offices with severe injuries that could not be treated.

Previously, two common kestrels had been put down for the same reasons. All of the birds had old gunshot wounds to their wings which had subsequently healed badly as they had been kept confined in small cages for extended periods of time.

The birds find their way to BirdLife most likely after they are abandoned by the person previously holding them captive, after which, unable to fly, they are spotted and brought to the attention of the authorities or the NGOs.

The honey buzzard had a badly fractured wing and one of its toes had been blown off. Its wing and tail feathers were also in bad shape, indicating that, after being shot, it had been kept in a small cage, BirdLife said.

The hypothesis is further confirmed by the fact that the spring migration of honey buzzards has yet to start, which means that the bird must have been the victim of a previous hunting season.

André Raine, the NGO's conservation manager, said that keeping injured birds in small cages for such a long time ultimately results in the wings remaining damaged. "It is terrible to think of such majestic birds first being shot and then being kept in tiny cages for many months.

"If it is possible to rehabilitate injured birds of prey, every effort is made to do so and they are then released back into the wild. Unfortunately, in these three cases, the birds were in such bad condition and their wounds were so severe they had to be put down by a veterinarian."

Common kestrels and honey buzzards are protected species in the European Union. They migrate over Malta in large numbers every year and, despite being legally protected, they often fall victim to illegal hunting. It is illegal both to shoot these species or to capture and keep them under both Maltese and EU law.

The spring hunting season in Malta will open on April 10 for the fourth consecutive year in direct violation of the Birds Directive, since Malta joined the European Union, BirdLife said.

"BirdLife is concerned that, yet again, this spring hunting season will be used as a blanket season to kill birds of prey and other protected species by many hunters in Malta. In the light of the EU executive's decision to send a supplementary warning letter to Malta, we demand that the Maltese government retract its decision and outlaw spring hunting once and for all," it said.