One of Europe’s most endangered birds of prey, a pallid harrier, has been sent to Germany for rehabilitation after being shot in Malta a few days ago during the spring hunting season, according to BirdLife Malta.

The bird was found in a Mosta garden last Sunday with injuries to its wing and chest that were a few days old. It was emaciated and unable to fly, BirdLife Malta added.

The bird received preliminary veterinary care but, since the island does not have rehabilitation facilities for wild birds, BirdLife’s partner in Germany, Nabu (Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union) helped in getting the bird sent over.

It was flown to Berlin on Wednesday and received further veterinary treatment on Thursday.

The pallid harrier is one of the 26 shot protected birds that BirdLife received around the spring hunting season between April 13 and 30.

It is estimated that there are only five to 50 breeding pairs of pallid harriers in Europe, excluding the Russian population.

BirdLife said that over the last four years it had witnessed several incidents of pallid harriers being shot at.

Paul Debono, the organisation’s executive director, said: “The season was opened under conditions which could neither be controlled nor enforced. The aim was clearly to allow large numbers of hunters to be out in the field during the peak migration period. The end result is a procession of shot protected birds.”