The New Year had barely started and two protected birds had already been shot, BirdLife Malta said, urging the government to take the issue of illegal hunting more seriously.

"Since it took charge of hunting and bird protection-related issues after the election in 2008, the Office of the Prime Minister has systematically downplayed the true scale of illegal hunting," BirdLife Malta's conservation manager André Raine said.

"We invite the Prime Minster to join our surveillance teams in the countryside during peak migration to witness the situation. Maybe then he will realise why Malta has such a bad reputation for bird conservation throughout Europe."

In a curt reaction, a spokesman for the OPM said: "The government is committed against illegal hunting".

Over the past days, BirdLife was informed that two protected birds had been shot: a racing pigeon and a juvenile yellow-legged gull.

The pigeon was found at the Foresta 2000 site while the gull was collected from the shore in front of the Radisson Hotel at St Julians. Both had been shot in the wing.

An analysis of the protected birds received showed the number referred to BirdLife had increased over the past three years. The number stood at 81 in 2007, rising to 91 in 2008 and 95 last year.

"We have been highlighting this issue for many years and have continuously revealed irrefutable evidence of widespread and commonplace illegal hunting," Dr Raine said.

He added that, while illegal hunting was not a problem restricted to Malta, no other BirdLife partner received such a high number of shot protected birds on a regular basis.

Last year, the Natural History Museum received 374 birds confiscated by the police or the Malta Environment and Planning Authority, he pointed out.

The figure for 2009 did not include the 200 protected birds discovered in a bird cemetery unearthed in Miżieb in September. The birds were found "on public land claimed as a hunting reserve by the hunters' association", BirdLife said.

"The remains of these birds were handed over to the authorities to confirm the cause of death. To date, nobody has been charged over the crime and no further information has been forthcoming from the authorities," Dr Raine said.