CABS planning to get more 'eyes in the sky' to 'support the police'
Lawyers asked to obtain all the necessary permits
The Committee Against Bird Slaughter (CABS) said today that the public stance taken by the FKNK about the TV feature on illegal hunting in Malta and about the filming of illegal trapping from the air was a potpourri of ill-founded allegations, xenophobia and empty bluster.
CABS board member David Conlin said the so-called 'drone' was a model aircraft made of polystyrene and weighing some 1.5 kilogrammes. It was powered by a battery-driven propeller and equipped with high resolution cameras, freely available on the open market.
"None of its components are of a military nature and comparisons with events that took place nearly 70 years ago are far-fetched and invidious. The device was brought to Malta by the RTL TV station in order to take birds' eye view pictures of illegal trapping sites. It was operated by a Swiss electronics engineer under the auspices of RTL. The role of CABS was to advise the operator on possible locations of illegal trapping sites as well as to analyse the footage filmed by the device. During the operation of the aircraft the police were present and, as the illegal active sites were detected, conducted the necessary follow-up investigations such as seizure of nets and illegally trapped birds."
CABS said it would continue to monitor and report illegal bird killing using all legal means and in close cooperation with the police and its Maltese supporters .
"As the 'Eye in the Sky' has proved its effectiveness in detecting illegal trapping installations, CABS plan to bring several of their own devices to Malta and offer their use to support the police in their duties of combating poaching wildlife crime on the islands.We have entrusted a Maltese lawyer's office with the task of obtaining all the necessary permits and permissions," Mr Conlin said.
He added that the call by the FKNK yesterday for the sacking of the curator of the Natural History Museum on Mdina, who spoke out against illegal hunting in the RTL documentary, was "yet another example of this type of aggressive information management".