BirdLife, CABS record 1,300 illegalities during spring watch

More than 1,300 illegalities have been recorded during the three-week spring watch camp held between April 11 and yesterday, BirdLife president Joseph Mangion said this morning.

Footage and a detailed report, he said, would be presented to the European Commission, from which they expected action against Malta for failing to abide by the derogation’s rules.

Committee Against Bird Slaughter spokesman Axel Hirschfeld reported that his team were this morning ambushed by five people wearing balaclavas in Dingli. The attackers threw stones at the team who reported the incident at the Rabat police station.

Mr Mangion said that what CABS and BirdLife had in hand proved that the government spring hunting derogation had failed to meet even the strict supervision test and other conditions of the Birds Directive.

Around 260 illegal hunting and trapping incidents were recorded during the six-day season outside the permitted times. These included hunting from rooftops, the use of illegally modified shotguns in over 100 cases, targeting of protected species as well as active trapping.

Over 640 observed cases of hunting were observed with 1,305 shots heard in Malta alone during the mornings of the derogation period. This led to the conclusion that many hunters who did not have the necessary spring hunting licence were targeting migratory birds.

Mr Hirschfeld said that CABS only covered five per cent of island so this was the tip of the iceberg.

Despite their good intentions, the police could only deal with a fraction of the incidents.

Some of the poachers and hunters, he said, were encouraged by law because of the laughable penalties.

CABS, he said, demanded the Maltese government to change the minimum penalties imposed by law.