Thursday, 20th November 2008
'Protected bird shot at sea'
BirdLife yesterday reported to the police that a protected bird, a great cormorant, was shot from close to the shore.
The NGO circulated to the media photos which, it said, showed two hunters on a dinghy recovering the bird from the sea after shooting it just a few hundred metres from the shore in Pembroke.
The photos were taken by a birdwatcher who, BirdLife said, witnessed the incident at 6.20 a.m. on Saturday. The images, it added, have also been sent to the police.
Legal Notice 79 bans hunting at sea within three kilometers of the coast. The great cormorant is a protected species under the EU and Maltese law and is a migratory species.
BirdLife Malta said illegal hunting this autumn was widespread and worse when compared to last year because many poachers had been recorded shooting at protected birds even in bird sanctuaries and in the presence of the police.
BirdLife said it received 66 protected birds which had been shot since the beginning of the migration season this autumn. Such a figure, it pointed out, only represented the tip of the iceberg and was likely to increase if the government continued to deny the scale of illegal shooting.
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Comments
The real pests on the Maltese Islands - and also around them - are hunters that shoot anything, anywhere, anytime......and those who use their energies to short-sightedly shield them and their abusive actions.
Is the Cormorant a pest here in Malta? NO
Is the Collared Dove a pest here in Malta? NO
Is the House Sparrow a pest here in Malta? NO....because we don't have House Sparrows but Spanish Sparrows, a totally different species.
Apart from that, have you yourself made a scientific study of the actual impact of the sparrow on agriculture here in Malta? Do you know that during the breeding season, sparrows consume large number of insects to feed their young? You cannot conclude if a species is a pest or not without a proper scientific study of both pros and cons. Unfortunately the cons in this case, are more obvious and easier to assess.
Are you implying that the Cormorant is not considered as being a pest?.
Are you aware of the extermination program on Lake Constance?
"The regional council Freiburg, responsible for the city of Radolfzell and the adjoining Aachried, where between 70 and 100 breeding pairs of cormorants were located, roused the flock Tuesday night(8th of April) with halogen floodlights and so caused the eggs and newly hatched chicks to die off in the cold:"
Indeed the Cormorant is protected in Malta. the same applies to the collard dove, both these birds are protected in Malta and considered as vermin elsewhere.
The House sparrow, that is by far the most abundant bird on our islands and that causes incalculable damage to fruit and crops is also protected.
Considering all three birds mentioned above are considered as vermin, why should we differentiate between killing these birds and killing rats, mice, flies, mosquitoes or the use of insecticide to kill all sorts of bugs?
Do birds that are considered as pests have anything more appealing?
However, the Cormorant is protected here in Malta and so who ever shot at it broke the law. Just as in the case of the Flamingo, you could have easily said what you had to say and at the same time include a sentence to condemn the act of whoever shot at this bird. But again, nothing.
Also, in their last press release issued on the 12th November, the total of injured birds received by Birdlife was 64 and not 67 as you stated, so actually 2 more must have been received and so the tip of the iceberg looks even more menacing.
Last but not least, as for the Cormorant being a pest, when considering that many trigger happy shooters use birds such as swifts and swallows as target practice and considering that these birds are so beneficial as they feed only on insects….I ask you….who is the pest in that case?
"BirdLife said it received 66 protected birds ", last time the number was 67, how come now it is one less?? or it slipped over the tip of the ice-berg.