Alert bird guards lead to find of protected species

The police Administrative Law Enforcement (ALE) unit seized 75 protected wader and song birds during a raid in a greenhouse in Baħrija late on Tuesday evening.

The raid followed a tip off by the international Committee Against Bird Slaughter (CABS), members of which are presently in Malta.

The committee said CABS members heard an unusual bird call coming from the greenhouse during a routine patrol in the afternoon. CABS press officer Axel Hirschfeld said the call was identified as that of a sandpiper, an unusual sight next to greenhouses and, therefore, arousing their suspicion.

The police were immediately contacted. ALE officers arrived 15 minutes later and began a search of the complex, Mr Hirschfeld recounted.

"They soon discovered a large aviary, which contained almost exclusively protected species."

Altogether, 32 little stints, 13 wood sandpipers, eight common sandpipers, five little ringed plovers, five green sandpipers, two white wagtails, two yellow wagtails and a red-throated pipit, a dunlin, a temminch's stint and a ring ouzel were seized.

CABS said three other birds died before their release. The remainder, many of which had their wings clipped, were subsequently cared for by Mepa specialists.

The seizure was the largest yet made and experts estimated that the total market value of the birds exceeds €20,000.

The birds were kept in police custody throughout the night and taken to the Għadira nature reserve yesterday morning, where they were released.

CABS said its members will remain on the island until September 28 in order to cooperate with the police and conservationists to combat illegal hunting and trapping.