Significant increase in illegal spring hunting - report

The government's decision to open the spring hunting season this year led to a "significant increase" in the number of protected species killed over Malta, a report released by BirdLife Malta has shown.

The opening of the spring hunting season has given hunters blanket permission to shoot at anything that moves, the report's author, André Raine, told a news conference yesterday.

The report, dealing with all incidents of illegal hunting and trapping reported to BirdLife between January 1 and May 21, is to be forwarded to the relevant authorities, including the European Commission.

Contrary to claims that stringent regulations, monitoring and hefty fines would control the activities of hunters, the report indicates that spring hunting in Malta resulted in the needless slaughter of protected species.

The number of injured and dead birds received by BirdLife during 2007 significantly increased with the opening of the spring hunting season, with 88 per cent of the reports of illegally shot birds pouring in since the season opened on April 10.

The large proportion of illegally-hunted species were birds of prey, which made up 65 per cent of the shot birds, often rare or declining species.

Compared to 2005, the number of injured or dead protected species with gunshot wounds physically brought to the BirdLife offices increased by 24 per cent, the report said. Additionally, birdwatchers reported a total of 181 illegal hunting and trapping cases from 58 localities until May 21. Numerous other reports received from the public were excluded if sufficient evidence was found lacking.

Dr Raine, BLM's conservation manager, said Malta has the dubious distinction of being the only Mediterranean country that does not have a single pair of breeding birds of prey.

The continued persecution of birds of prey means that even common breeding raptors in the Mediterranean, such as the common kestrel, do not have a chance to breed here even though conditions are more than suitable, Dr Raine said.

He insisted that both the number of reports of illegal hunting and the number of birds taken to the BirdLife offices will only represent a fraction of what is occurring in the countryside.

To be taken to the BirdLife office, the shot bird must first escape from the hunter, and then be found by a member of the public willing to recover it. Most hunters who kill protected species will make every effort to conceal or destroy the evidence, Dr Raine said. This explains why a rather low 31 birds were taken to the BLM office.

However, BLM director Tolga Temuge said that about 380 reports of illegal hunting were made during the spring season.

Reports about incidents of illegal hunting are sent on a regular basis and the study cites a case where BirdLife staff provided video footage of a hunter inside the Addolorata Cemetery to the police. The report says the difficulty in policing illegal hunting activities is compounded by the fact that a significant number of hunters are equipped with walkie-talkies or VHF radios, to alert other hunters about police presence.

BirdLife provided journalists with evidence showing that the birds they received were inspected by a veterinarian and then handed over to the police Administrative Law Enforcement or to Heritage Malta.

Towards the end of the news conference, Mr Temuge hit out at the hunters' federation for questioning the veracity of photos of dead birds released by BirdLife.

He gave proof that the three photos contested by the hunters were real photos of birds gunned down by hunters this year. In one case, a hunters' claim that a photo of a dead purple heron dated back to 1999 was nothing more than a matter of a wrong camera setting, he said. To verify the details, journalists were even provided with the contact details of the person who took the picture. Mr Temuge also said that another individual had taken a photo of the same dead bird from a different angle.