A van driver in Mgarr stopped his vehicle and shot at a flock of protected birds of prey through his car window, the latest in a series of illegal shooting incidents as spring migration started, BirdLife said in a statement.
It said that in the last few days, as birds of prey started arriving, BirdLife Malta was given four protected birds of prey with gunshot injuries.
Yesterday, a surveillance team watching a flock of seven Lesser Kestrels in Mgarr, witnessed the poacher in a van shooting at the flock from inside his vehicle, hitting one of the birds.
The flock flew off and a female dropped into a wheat field after briefly fluttering away from her perch. The team filmed the hunter driving off and immediately contacted the ALE. The video footage will be passed on to the police.
BirdLife said that yesterday it received a Marsh Harrier and a Lesser Kestrel, a species given additional protection in Europe due to its declining populations.
Another Lesser Kestrel was handed over to BirdLife by members of the public after it was shot in Marsascala on Tuesday. A Common Kestrel suffering gunshot wounds was also given to BirdLife after it was targeted in Zabbar last Saturday.
All birds were immediately taken to a veterinary and reported to the Office of the Prime Minister, ALE and the Malta Environment and Planning Authority. Due to the severity of their injuries, two shot protected birds of prey had to be euthanised by the vet while the Mash Harrier and one of the Lesser Kestrels were passed on to the authorities for rehabilitation.
“If we alone are getting a shot bird of prey on an almost daily basis, who knows how many are being slaughtered out there in the absence of the police, as the ALE are once again down to one patrol vehicle and are not in a position to effectively respond to most of the illegal hunting reports,” Andre Raine, BirdLife Malta conservation manager said.
BirdLife said that around 120,000 people signed its international petition calling on the Prime Minister to take strong action against the illegal killing of protected species and refrain from opening another spring hunting season to give wild birds a chance to breed.
“However, as expected the OPM and the hunting lobby will once again unite in their denial of the seriousness of illegal killing during another migration. The situation in Malta has become like a clichéd horror movie with endless sequels to it,” Dr Raine said.