Birds confiscated from falconry now safe in Sicily

Fifteen protected birds confiscated by the police from a falconry in Malta, are now being rehabilitated at a Sicilian rehabilitation centre, BirdLife said this afternoon.

The birds were confiscated on December 1 during a joint operation by MEPA and the Administrative Law Enforcement section of the police. In many cases the birds had been held for several years.

As there is no centre in Malta with proper rehabilitation facilities for wild birds, MEPA contacted the Aziende Foresta Demaniali's rehabilitation centre which agreed to take the birds, BirdLife Malta said.

The Sicilian authority on wild fauna, the Ripartizione Faunistico Venatoria, authorised the rehabilitation centre to hold and treat the birds until they are fit to be released.

BirdLife quoted veterinarian Fabio Grosso as saying that some of the birds were in terrible condition and injuries had set badly during the long period they were kept in captivity at the Falconry centre in Malta. It may therefore not be possible to fully rehabilitate all of them. Many birds, however, were very fit, but since they had been kept in cages for such a long time, they had to be slowly trained to be able to feed themselves in the wild once more.

"I was also horrified to see that a Little Egret had its wing feathers chopped off," continued Ms Giordano. "This means that the bird will not be able to be released for at least a year until it re-grows its feathers, even though it is not injured."

BirdLife said that in 2007 it received nine birds with clipped wings showing they had been kept in captivity after being shot. The organisation has also received similar reports in 2008 and has forwarded all of the information to the police.