BirdLife Malta is urging the government not to issue any more rabbit hunting licenses since their number soared by over 20 percent in the last 15 months.

In a statement, BirdLife said the increase started with the first ban on spring hunting in 2008.

With the rabbit hunting season due to start tomorrow, BirdLife said that each year it documented numerous instances of illegal hunting targeting Malta’s rare breeding birds once the rabbit hunting season opened. The Police Commissioner had also started allowing the use of airguns to hunt rabbits, making it even harder for law enforcement officers to catch poachers targeting wild birds.

The problem was further exacerbated by the fact that from June onwards the ALE were no longer focused on hunting and trapping incidents, but were put on other duties such as beach patrols.

“Since the ban on spring hunting, ornithologists have recorded species, such as turtle dove and common kestrel, remaining in Malta after the migration period ended, carrying out breeding displays and pairing up in preparation for breeding.

"However, as we saw in 2008, as soon as the rabbit hunting season opens up these birds disappear one by one,” André Raine, BirdLife Malta’s conservation manager said.

“It is utterly irresponsible to allow such a blatant loophole, especially after so much time and effort has been put into ensuring that these birds survive the depredations of illegal hunting during the vulnerable spring period,” he said.

Since the ultimate responsibility for rabbit hunting licenses and legislation was the Prime Minister's, BirdLife called for a serious review of the current legislation on rabbit hunting and repeated its call for the setting up of a wildlife crime unit that concentrated on environmental crimes throughout the year.