BirdLife International has launched an international campaign aimed at Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi demanding the proper enforcement of the EU Birds Directive, which, it said, has been largely ignored since EU membership.
The international conservation organisation said it is demanding an end to the illegal killing of migratory protected birds that are regularly shot over Malta.
"BirdLife also demands that the Maltese Government ensures that a spring hunting and trapping season for Turtle Dove Streptopelia turtur, and Common Quail Coturnix coturnix is never re-opened on the island."
“Illegal hunting in Malta is a serious concern for the BirdLife International Partnership because of the scale of the illegal activity and lack of efficient governmental action against it”, commented Angelo Caserta, Regional Director of BirdLife International European Division in Brussels.
“BirdLife is not against legal hunting and we do not endorse any sort of tourism boycott against Malta as wrongly claimed by the hunting lobby. It is not those who are calling for an end to illegal hunting that are giving Malta a bad name but rather the poachers who are shooting down the same birds other countries are investing millions of euros to protect. The authorities insist on downplaying the true scale of poaching and refrain from taking effective action to end this practice” he added.
Scientific ringing studies carried out by BirdLife Malta since the 1960s have shown that birds from at least 48 countries (36 in Europe and 12 in Africa) use Malta during migration].
"BirdLife Malta believes that thousands of protected birds including rare raptors such as Pallid Harrier Circus macrourus, Lesser Spotted Eagle Aquila pomarina and Lesser Kestrel Falco naumanni, as well as herons, storks and other protected birds are illegally gunned down each year," BirdLife International said.
Bob Elliot, Head of Investigations for RSPB Scotland (BirdLife in the UK), witnessed the illegal shooting of birds in Malta during BirdLife Malta’s conservation camps. He said: “Malta is the only place where you do not want to see a raptor flying low as it will definitely be shot at in the absence of conservationists or police in the area”.
Mr Elliot said, as a professional wildlife crime investigator, he was appalled with the scale of illegal hunting and trapping in Malta. “In Scotland, we record an average of 60 cases of wild bird crime every year. In Malta, BirdLife recorded over 2100 incidents in 2008 alone. Scotland is 250 times the size of Malta and has some very challenging problems regarding the illegal killing of protected species, but Malta still stands in a league of its own” BirdLife quoted him as saying.
An international petition can be signed online at www.birdlifemalta.org <http://www.birdlifemalta.org/>