The lack of action over the discovery of 201 dead protected birds in the Miżieb woodland reflects a great lack of political will to stop illegal hunting, two international bird protection organisations have claimed.
Illegal hunting will only stop through a proactive approach but only if the government, opposition and political parties make an effort to do so, BirdLife Malta and Committee Against Bird Slaughter (CABS) said yesterday.
Volunteers from the two organisations, which are currently running bird watch camps here, scoured the Miżieb woodland after chancing upon the first few dead birds on Sunday.
During searches over the weekend, the tally grew to 201 birds, all found under rubbish and stones in the woodland, which is managed by the hunters' association.
Dubbed by the volunteers as a "mass cemetery", some of the birds had been shot only recently while other carcasses looked several months old.
The police opened an investigation but it falls far short of the birdwatchers' expectations as the area was not cordoned off and evidence was collected by the volunteers rather than officers assigned to the case.
On Tuesday, BirdLife Malta wrote to the Attorney General complaining that the police were not treating Miżieb as a crime scene.
The CABS' press officer Axel Hirschfeld said this showed clearly that the Maltese police did not take seriously the "worse wild life crime committed in Europe".
"The volunteers had to do the job of the police and search the area," he said, pointing out that only one third of the area has been searched so far.
Now a dossier on what was found in Miżieb will be drawn up and sent to the European hunters association (FACE) and the European Commission.
Just 40 minutes before the press conference, the hunters association sent an open letter to the Police Commissioner querying the validity of the birdwatchers' reports as they have done since the discovery was made.
The hunters called for an official police inquiry and another by a veterinarian specialised in birds appointed by the Animal Welfare Department to determine the exact cause and time of the birds' deaths.
However, when it was pointed out to them that an investigation was actually ongoing, Mr Farrugia said he was satisfied with that.
"We wanted an investigation and we are ready to help," Mr Farrugia said.
The federation also offered to pay for police officers to accompany members of Birdlife and CABS while out bird watching. "We are ready to do this - so that there will be a witness when these things happen," Mr Farrugia said.
But BirdLife executive director Tolga Temuge welcomed the proposal, saying it would make the life of volunteers easier since they would not have to wait for the police to arrive, when they spot something illegal.