More than 1,300 illegal acts in 3 weeks - Birdlife Malta

Hunters' illegal behaviour during the six-day spring hunting season has provided ample ammunition for the EU to penalise Malta, according to Birdlife Malta and the Committee Against Bird Slaughter.

More than 1,300 illegal acts were recorded during Birdlife's three-week spring watch camp between April 11-30, while some 260 illegal hunting and trapping incidents were registered outside the permitted hours of the six-day season that closed last Friday.

Footage recording these violations - shown to the media yesterday - and a detailed report will be presented to the European Commission in the coming days. Birdlife and Cabs said yesterday they were expecting Brussels to take action against Malta for failing to abide by the derogation's rules.

"We have been proved right. We expect the Commission to take action against Malta for failing to meet the conditions under the Birds Directive, including strict supervision," Birdlife president Joe Mangion said at a press conference.

Spring hunting has been in the balance since Malta joined the EU in 2004. The European Court of Justice last year ruled Malta had breached the Birds Directive by allowing spring hunting, yet it felt autumn was not a satisfactory alternative.

Consequently, the government ventured to open a scaled-down spring hunting season that was criticised by hunters and environmentalists alike.

Birdwatchers say they have had a tough job monitoring the situation. The Cabs team yesterday claimed it came under attack again yesterday morning, this time by five people wearing balaclavas who ambushed their car and threw large stones at them in Dingli. A report was filed at the Rabat police station.

"I am very worried about the situation," Cabs spokesman Axel Hirschfeld said, adding his team had only been able to cover five per cent of the island, while Gozo was not monitored.

"Despite all their good intentions, the police could only deal with a fraction of the illegal hunting incidents. Some of the poachers might have been encouraged by the laughable penalties that have been given to illegal hunters and trappers in the past years," he added.

Mr Hirschfeld called on the government to revise minimum penalties and to ensure repeat offenders were severely dealt with. He also pointed out that the police had no database for repeat offenders.

Mr Mangion said police had reported that only 16 special licences had been issued. However, there were 640 observed cases of hunting with 1,305 shots heard during the morning of the six-day season.

"Only one hunter we came across during the open season had a licence - the rest were hunting illegally. While the government did everything it could to open a spring hunting season, many hunters did things their own way, showing no respect for the law," he said.

The violations recorded include hunting from rooftops, the use of illegally modified shotguns in over 100 cases, targeting protected species as well as active trapping.

When asked how the government could realistically deal with such a highly politicised issue, Mr Mangion insisted the first step was to enforce the law.

"This year should have been a test for the government. The least it could have done was enforce the law, yet there was no adequate police response, transmitting the message that anything goes," he said.

"We are not out to ban hunting. Hunters have five months to enjoy their pastime in autumn."