Inaction against vandalism sends dangerous message - Birdlife

Birdlife Malta yesterday expressed its determination to keep up the fight for Malta's environment and bird conservation, and vowed it would not be silenced by "cowardly" scare-tactics based on criminal acts of vandalism.

Seven weeks after three cars belonging to Birdlife volunteers were torched in Buskett, members of the organisation gathered on the spot - where pieces of charred awning still hung over the parking area - to vent their frustration that the offenders had not yet been caught.

"It is unacceptable that, in today's society, violence continues to be the chosen method of communication by some individuals. These criminals have still not been apprehended just as those who committed vandal attacks on the Għadira Nature Reserve and at the Foresta 2000 site remain unpunished till today. This inaction sends a dangerous message," Birdlife president Joseph Mangion said.

Speaking in front of a banner reading 'We will not forget. We will not be silent,' Mr Mangion stressed that Birdlife was committed to keep working to safeguard Malta's environment and for the conservation of birds.

Birdlife volunteer John Borg, whose car was torched while he was conducting bird ringing research in Buskett, said that despite the financial and psychological trauma suffered "we will not forget and will keep doing our research".

Conservation manager Andre Raine highlighted the importance of bird ringing to investigate bird populations and understand their migration patterns. Such research, he said, showed that birds from all Europe migrated through Malta, highlighting Malta's importance in international conservation.

He added that, hopefully, this will be the first spring free of hunting and, to ensure this, Birdlife will be carrying out a Spring Watch, between Saturday and April 29, in various areas to ensure that the law was obeyed.

Yet, although hunting is currently not permitted - pending the European Court's interim order as to whether or not to ban spring hunting, a decision which should be delivered in the coming days - Mr Mangion noted that "since the election date we have been witnessing a serious increase in illegal activities related to trapping and hunting".

"Those who kill protected species are criminals and have to be punished by the full force of law...

"The (police's) Administrative Law Enforcement, with its res-ources, is clearly not enough to cope with the scale of these wild life crimes," he said. On Friday, the hunters' federation (FKNK) wrote to the Prime Minister urging him to allow spring hunting if the European Court delayed its decision. Birdlife Malta executive director Tolga Temuge said that FKNK was in breach of an agreement signed in 2004 between FACE (the Federation of Associations for Hunting and Conservation of the EU) and Birdlife International.

"It seems that hunters and trappers have declared a divine right to enjoy the countryside to the detriment of people like us who come here to enjoy it armed with a paint brush rather than a shot gun... They cannot monopolise the countryside," he said.