BirdLife car vandalised

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.