Saturday, 27th June 2009 - 15:02CET
FKNK says it had forecast Birdlife's statement on cuckoos
The FKNK had informed the Administrative Law Enforcement section of the police on May 30 that it suspected that Birdlife would soon be telling the public that the cuckoos at Mizieb had been shot by some rabbit hunter.
In a statement this afternoon, reacting to another by Birdlife yesterday, the Federation for Hunting and Conservation (FKNK) said that it had informed ALE head, Inspector Alex Miruzzi that FKNK members had been observing two cuckoos on a regular basis in those weeks at their reserve of Mizieb and that BirdLife Malta were also monitoring the birds.
“In full knowledge that BirdLife's next target was rabbit hunting which season was due to open come June 1, the FKNK also informed Mr Miruzzi that they suspected that BirdLife Malta would soon be informing the public that the cuckoos at Mizieb had been shot by some rabbit hunter.”
FKNK said that in a media release yesterday, BirdLife Malta stated “now that hunting season has opened... there have been reports that the pair of cuckoos in Mizieb have also been shot".
In the same release BirdLife also "revealed footage and photographs of a dead Black-winged Stilt at the Ghadira Nature Reserve, which had been shot early on the morning of June 25".
The FKNK said it condemned any shooting of a protected species, but, without questioning the authentic material of the footage and if BirdLife employees had some special permit empowering them to handle protected species, it could not help noting the astonishing coincidence of the report.
It said that in the June 24 news bulletin on national television, an FKNK official demonstrated where for the third year in succession bee-eaters were breeding, besides a pair of peregrine falcons and a further two pairs of kestrels that have also always bred regularly in such small numbers over the years, and which latter news discredited BirdLife's recent announcement that a pair of kestrels has bred on the Maltese islands for the first time in 15 years.
“The FKNK is kept continuously updated about the status, breeding and quantity of Malta's birds through its network of thousands of members who carry out observations on their hunting lands all over the Maltese islands throughout the year.”
It also kept a checklist at:
http://www.huntinginmalta.org.mt/uploads/24/375/FKNK_MALTA_WILD_BIRDS_CHECK-LIST_JUNE_2008.xls
FKNK said it was also aware that BirdLife Malta was demanding to be informed as to the whereabouts of any breeding birds.
“The FKNK feels that it is not in Birdlife Malta's interest to be aware of such issues and further believes that such information would only result in a negative outcome with some more photos and sensationalistic stories.
“So the FKNK will not reveal the whereabouts of such breeding birds to anyone, which birds will surely benefit from continuing to live together with hunters and trappers as the Shearwater in Mellieha have done for centuries.”
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Comments
Hmmm, maybe they already knew that one of their members intended to shoot them.
"So the FKNK will not reveal the whereabouts of such breeding birds to anyone"
Of course not. The last thing they want is for anyone to be able to verify when they've been shot down.
Well done to ALL involved.
How about some of the Government funds fall off, be redirected at this sterling work? BLM are having all funds with little to show in return. Apart from hype and propaganda as used to tarnish Malta on the four winds!
By the way, I am anti-hunting and anti-trapping. But I am also anti-Birdlife because I see them as a dishonest organization who flourishes on misinformation and double-talk. Birdlife has proved itself of ignoring Malta's national interest by harming the economy. I suspect that the loudest amongst Birdlife's members and leaders have vested interest in this charade.
No one country in all of Europe is free from hunting and trapping, but not one would allow a group like our Birdlife to carry on the way it has been doing these last 20 years.
If there is proof of Birdlife fabricating evidence to damage rabbit hunters, the police have to prosecute against Birdlife's leaders criminally.
Here is a link to newly born bird chicks on our hunting land. We make sure that they are well looked after. Besides this nests there are 4 Others.
http://www.kaccaturi.com/chicks.html
As for the Mizieb cuckoos that Birdlife now say have been shot. Have Birdlfie placed a satellite tracking device on either of them in order to be able to make such a statement. They are quick at pointing fingers. They do not seem to realize that birds have wings and could by now be in Bulgaria. They also ignore the possibility that both cuckoos could have been males searching for a female or vice versa. They ignore the possibility that they both could have died of old age. According to Birdlife the blame always falls on the hunter also any bird that they see in the spring season has bred, will breed or could breed.
Indeed everything with feathers that is seen in Malta by Birdlife makes them go cuckoo. The same old paranoid Birdlife.
Some sense of intellectual strategy from FKNK...
I think it is to be expected that - FKNK attacks Birdlife etc, and Bidrlife etc attacks FKNK and the bird shooters.
What should happen is both groups of organisations respect and comply with the law, and the law is fully enforced - this is where the problem is.
The arguments by both sides, about who does what and why, are not important, what is important is compliance with the law.
Cuckoos leave once the egg has been laid in a nest belonging to another species.
The chick is then brought up by the much smaller bird.