Rare eagle shot down

A Lesser Spotted Eagle, a protected species, was shot down near Hagar Qim yesterday evening, BirdLife said today. The shooting was witnessed by a Raptor Camp team.

The Eagle, a rare visitor to Malta, was seen landing at Girgenti by three different raptor camp teams at around 4:45 p.m. It left Girgenti shortly after and headed south-east. Several raptor camp teams and the ALE was alerted as the rare Eagle was being followed by numerous suspicious individuals, some watching the bird and communicating with radios and mobiles while others chased the bird in their vehicles.

The bird was seen shot at from three different locations. It was last seen flying low near Blue Grotto where it was shot at and hit. Birdwatchers saw the Eagle through their binoculars struggling to gain height, and it flew on towards the garrigue near the Hagar Qim temples where it was shot three more times and dropped behind the ridge. Two ALE teams arrived at the scene shortly after.

Before the Eagle was killed in Hagar Qim a Raptor Camp team that was following the bird saw an individual standing in the road with a shotgun scanning the sky in the limits of Zurrieq. The alleged poacher saw the Raptor Camp team and ran back to his car, reversing right past the team, narrowly missing their car and sped off. His accomplice was left behind and jumped into the bushes, BirdLife said.

The whole event was filmed by the team and footage was passed on to the police.

On September 27 last year, another Lesser Spotted Eagle was shot and killed in Buskett bird sanctuary. A Raptor Camp team had filmed the poacher stashing the dead Eagle under a rusty barrel by the side of the road. The poacher and his accomplice were arrested by the ALE shortly after BirdLife reported the crime to the police. On 3rd June 2009 they were found guilty and fined a total of 4,300euro for the crime.

In September 2007 another Lesser Spotted Eagle was found injured suffering gunshot wounds. The Eagle was identified as Sigmar, one of 16 Lesser Spotted Eagle chicks which had been hand reared as part of conservation project in Germany. At the time of the shooting Sigmar was three months old. Sigmar was transported to Germany as the facilities for the bird’s rehabilitation were not sufficient in Malta. On the 7th December 2007 the bird had to be put down as a result of an infection in its shattered shin bone.