BirdLife hands bird-hunting footage to the police

BirdLife Malta said today it had handed footage of a hunter shooting at protected Barn Swallows (Ħuttaf) to the police.

The shooting took place yesterday afternoon in the fields adjacent to the Salina Bird Sanctuary.

The footage shows the hunter shooting and recovering a shot Swallow. He then used it to train his puppy hunting dog, dragging it on the ground, teasing the puppy with the bird, and then throwing the dead protected bird short distances for the puppy to fetch.

The ALE couldn't be reached so the incident was reported to the district police. The district police arrived within 15 minutes, entering the area several fields away from the hunter.

By that time the hunter had left his weapon in his hide and went for a walk with his puppy. While he was away the police made a quick search of a different field, not finding the hide or abandoned shotgun. They then left the area after which the hunter returned, collected his weapon, and left.

BirdLife said that despite the poor migration, shooting at protected birds, or protected birds with gunshot injuries in flight has been witnessed by Raptor Camp teams on a daily basis. Other illegalities, including the use of illegal tape lures targeting waders and Quail, the use of decoys of protected bird, shooting outside permitted hours including night shooting at large roosts of protected Marsh Harriers have also been observed.

Illegalities have been recorded in many of the locations visited.

Referring to a rescue of a shot Little Egret (Agrett Abjad) by a group of local boaters earlier this week, BirdLife Malta Conservation and Policy Officer Nicholas Barbara said: "The bird fell into a part of the bay which could not be reached by land, but the boaters took the initiative and managed to rescue it, handing it over to the police. Actions like this by the general public are truly inspirational, and go a long way to stopping the illegal persecution – we encourage people who are in position to help, or report illegalities, to do so."

The BirdLife Malta website includes tips and instructions on how to report illegal hunting and trapping incidents to the police. Footage of several illegalities has been uploaded to the BirdLife Malta website www.birdlifemalta.org