Protected birds gunned down

Not even four weeks into the hunting season, BirdLife says that over 200 sightings of illegal hunting have been reported to it and 33 protected birds were taken to its offices dead or in such a state that they had to be put down.

Over the last three days, four wounded protected birds were handed over to the conservation group, including a bee-eater and a hobby yesterday.

"The figures have grown exponentially," BirdLife conservation manager Andrè Raine said. "Over the past two weeks the number of reports and dead birds grew substantially, most probably because of the increasingly favourable weather."

Three birds had to be put down on Thursday as a result of their injuries, and a fourth was brought in, still alive but with a seriously injured wing.

A cuckoo and two marsh harriers were put down in the morning. One of the marsh harriers had been found wandering around with an injured wing and a festering wound, which, by the time the bird was found, was littered with maggots.

Later in the day, a juvenile red-footed falcon was brought in, still alive but in too much of a bad state to be nursed back to health. The species is deemed to be a vulnerable one due to substantial declines throughout the European countries where it is usually found. About 10 of these countries are estimated to have fewer than 100 breeding pairs and the bird is no longer found in the Czech Republic.

"This is the state of affairs we're in," BLM executive director Tolga Temuge explained, as he liased with an English elderly lady who had called in to report a group of some four hunters who, she said, shot at a bird from a street in Rabat the previous Friday.

"We are overwhelmed by dead birds and reports of illegal hunting, every single day."

Contacted for comments, Police Inspector Alex Miruzzi, from the administrative law enforcement unit, said 40 people had already been booked this year. "These are sure cases of illegal hunting, meaning we have or will be prosecuting them," he said.

Nonetheless, he said he was under the impression that there was less illegal hunting than there had been last year.

"I'm obviously basing my analysis on impressions at this stage as there aren't any statistics yet. I might change my mind next week but, so far, I would tend to agree with Assistant Commissioner Joe Brincat when he says that illegal hunting seems to be less frequent this year."

The president of the hunters' federation, Lino Farrugia, while condemning illegal hunting in general saying "it has to stop", reiterated his scepticism in regard to BirdLife's claims, even after he was informed that the dead or injured birds had been seen by The Times.

He suggested, in comments he had given The Times early in April, that birds photographed by BirdLife could have been frozen specimen, which the NGO used as public relations props.

When confronted with the police data, Mr Farrugia said he was not saying there was no illegal hunting but that BirdLife was resorting to fabrications and exaggerating in order to lobby its case.

"I was out last Friday in Gozo and I can swear to you there were red-footed falcons, bee-eaters, you name it, and none of them was shot down. Not one!," he said.

He extended an invitation to BirdLife, which he said he had made previously but which was never taken up by the NGO, to call the federation whenever a bird is brought to their office. "After making our own verifications, we would condemn the case with them," he said.

When contacted about this proposal, Mr Temuge said he had not been aware of the offer but that he was accepting it, saying that he would call Mr Farrugia personally when the next bird is brought in.