The police were sparing no effort in eradicating, controlling and curbing illegal hunting and trapping, Police Commissioner John Rizzo insisted yesterday.
He was reacting to an e-mail sent by BirdLife Malta to him, to Environment Parliamentary Secretary Mario de Marco and other government officials, criticising the handling of an incident last year when 200 dead birds were found in Miżieb.
BirdLife is undergoing a wildlife camp with members of the Committee Against Bird Slaughter (CABS).
Two of its members were allegedly assaulted by a hunter – who is now facing court charges – just before a press conference on Monday. Previous claims by the two organisations that this incident occurred in the presence of police officers were rebutted by Mr Rizzo. BirdLife agreed yesterday that was a mistake.
Mr Rizzo said BirdLife’s e-mail contained “certain unfounded statements”, including that the police did not give feedback on the 2009 incident. He rebutted the claim that the police were off duty when they required assistance and they did not call on site when asked to do so by CABS or BirdLife activists.
BirdLife said the “police have to date not conducted a thorough search of the area (Miżieb) for further evidence and have not carried out a thorough investigation”.
Regarding Monday’s incident, BirdLife said the police were called after the first bird finds and came to collect the species. However, they left the area despite being asked to stay.
“BirdLife’s conservation manager called the police again when the volunteers discovered more birds but he was told they were off duty and were unavailable till noon and, although district police were informed, these only arrived on scene at about 12.30 p.m.,” BirdLife said.
The assault, it said, happened shortly before the police officers arrived on site.
“Contrary to Commissioner Rizzo’s reference to an increase in ALE (administrative law enforcement) resources, there are about 20 ALE officers working with less than a handful of vehicles,” BirdLife said, adding that this was a “failure on the government’s side to deal with this international conservation problem”.