Birdlife will continue to film illegal hunting

BirdLife Malta said yesterday it would carry on filming illegal hunting, when this was in the public interest, with the aim of bringing law breakers to justice.

On Sunday the hunters’ federation, FKNK, quoted a recent decision of the Data Protection Commissioner warning BirdLife not to process footage of individual hunters who may be identified without their consent.

The federation had filed a complaint with the commissioner after BirdLife representatives took videos and pictures of FKNK representatives without their consent and in spite of several warnings to stop such action. The footage was then uploaded on BirdLife’s website.

Yesterday BirdLife pointed out that the commissioner had not requested it to obtain the consent of hunters before filming them.

“The letter actually refers to only one incident where footage was released prior to the sentencing of an individual. The commissioner deemed that BirdLife Malta had been acting in the public interest when publishing the video concerned but that individuals ought not to be identifiable in such material,” BirdLife said.

It said last year it submitted over 100 investigation reports for police consideration including footage and photographs of individuals committing hunting and trapping offences.

BirdLife Malta also regularly receives reports and video material from the public which are passed on to the authorities for investigation. “There is no reason why BirdLife Malta, other NGOs and the public should not continue to report hunting and trapping illegalities by gathering video and photographic evidence to assist the police with their investigations,” BirdLife said.