Tuesday, 22nd April 2008
BirdLife car vandalised
Car with broken windscreen and (right) tyres with knife cuts. Photos: Adrian Thomas/BirdLife.
A car belonging to a group of volunteers of BirdLife Malta's Spring Watch was yesterday morning the target of a vandal attack in Għargħur.
The same team's observation post was also covered with body parts of at least two cats, BirdLife Malta said yesterday.
The car's windscreen was smashed by a hard object, which resulted in cracks, and two of the tyres were cut with a knife.
The Spring Watch is made up of ornithologists and volunteers who are documenting migration and reporting any illegal hunting and trapping.
When the team arrived on site at 6 a.m. there were other cars parked there but none of them were targeted except for the one belonging to BirdLife's volunteers, the organisation said.
BirdLife Malta's conservation manager André Raine said: "The police came along shortly and our team leader explained that two separate individuals had hurled abuse at the team earlier that morning. One of the individuals was observed getting out of a car with a gun and heading into the fields while the other person was in his hunting hide."
In another incident last Friday, a separate Spring Watch team that went to Nadur tower in Malta found pieces of wood hidden in the grass with long nails sticking out of them.
BirdLife said the implements would have resulted in multiple punctures had cars driven over them, with the evidence cleverly concealed as the wood breaks away completely once the nail pierces the tyre.
Furthermore, various teams have been subjected to verbal abuse at different locations since the beginning of the Spring Watch Camp, the NGO alleged. One of the teams at Delimara, in the afternoon of April 14, was surrounded by aggressive individuals and ordered to leave the area, although the team was on public land.
A team posted at Fomm ir-Riħ last Sunday morning was approached by a group of individuals who had previously been observed hiding a shotgun in the foliage. These individuals blocked the road with a pickup truck so that the Spring Watch Camp participants could not leave the area and demanded to see the video footage taken by BirdLife's team leader.
One of the Maltese volunteers on the team spoke to them to diffuse the situation and, on informing them that the police were on their way, these individuals left the area, BirdLife said.
It appealed to the government to take all necessary measures to handle the situation in the countryside.
For more information on BirdLife's conservation efforts and to view regular updates on Spring Watch Camp, visit www.birdlifemalta.org.
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Comments
Another thing that comes to mind is what was always preached to me by my late paternal grand father who I try to emulate in everything, including hunting skill and tactics.
When working fields and growing fruit trees, as already mentioned in other posts, there where times the fruits of long hard work were picked up by individuals who would not own a piece of rural land. Everyone knew who they were but these cunning individuals were always on the look out and would never be caught if you follow your normal routine as they would have been observing you and know your routine better then yourself. I used to get furious not finding my first harvest especially knowing it was on another mans table. My grandfather would laugh out loud and explain to me that it was for this reason he planted excess crop, to make up for dying ones and the unavoidable theif. Quote " DAK LI THALLI BARRA MHUX TIEGHEK " (what you leave outside or within reach is not yours as long as others do not leave it there for you) and this is purely true.
Nowadays technology has given us more tools to control such thefts and damages. Modern plantations are even guarded by CCTV and the danger of being robbed is less frequent but never impossible. Maybe BLM should learn from modern farmers and as suggested by Mr. Camilleri invest in small CCTV cameras to protect their property and having real proof before accusing anybody. In view of such proof I would just shut up..Until then, cheers to all....
It's such a pity that so few give so many such a horrible reputation.