I have just experienced my first spring hunting season as director of Birdlife Malta, and although I had been warned about what to expect, nothing could have prepared me for the experience. On just one day alone, I witnessed no fewer than six injured, shot birds being euthanised because they could never have recovered from their injuries.

It is truly heart-breaking to look in to the eye of a majestic but fatally injured marsh harrier

It is truly heart-breaking to look in to the eye of a majestic but fatally injured marsh harrier (a legally protected species) knowing that its life will prematurely end on Malta. These six birds were just one of 20 injured birds brought to Birdlife by concerned members of the public. Their concern is matched by the volunteers from Malta and all over Europe who joined Birdlife to monitor both bird migration and hunting as part of our Spring Watch camp.

Following the pre-election deal between the FKNK hunters’ federation and the Labour Party, the removal of the €50 special spring hunting licence fee resulted in 9,500 hunters registering for this season. This meant that, by law, a minimum of 66 enforcement officers would be required to police the season during hunting hours. With a force of just 18 officers at the start of the spring hunting season, the Administrative Law Enforcement arm of the police responsible were always going to be overworked and under-resourced.

To their great credit, they dealt with a number of illegalities to which they were alerted by Birdlife Malta, with supporting photographic and video evidence, both professionally and effectively. Rapid and successful prosecutions resulted.

However, we only ever witnessed a maximum of 19 ALE officers patrolling the Maltese countryside, and the average number we witnessed each day was just seven, far from the 66 required by law and the 100 officers claimed to be in the field by the government.

It is perhaps not surprising that, after much delay, up to 28 soldiers from the Armed Forces of Malta were made available to the ALE to supplement their numbers. Armed soldiers are, of course, a deterrent, but they could never have been trained, nor were they permitted, to deal with any illegalities they may have come across.

It seems that the Government has become more aware of the difficulties of policing hunting in Malta and, after many years of lobbying by both Birdlife Malta and the FKNK, it seems that a specialist Wildlife Crime Unit is now a real possibility. But, does the Government really have the will and the resources to provide and train the number of specialist police officers required by current statute?

The Parliamentary Secretary responsible has also announced that it is his priority to establish a trapping season using a ‘technical loophole’ in the EU Birds Directive.

Is not a ‘loophole’ a way of avoiding what the law really requires?

Add to this his feeble attempt to claim that the 20 injured, shot birds recovered by Birdlife Malta represented the sum total of illegally shot protected birds on the islands. Everyone knows they are the tip of the iceberg.

The motives of this parliamentary secretary are therefore at the very least, questionable. It is surely more appropriate for his minister to now intervene on what could be a very damaging situation for Malta.

While the FKNK may have signed up to a zero tolerance approach to illegalities, it has been worrying to see the delays and excuses given for one of their members who was convicted of an illegality within a restricted area. This person was severely fined, had his shotgun and hunting licence removed, but the FKNK refused to expel him from their ranks. If he had not resigned his membership would he still be a member of FKNK?

Surely a zero tolerance approach should mean immediate expulsion from the FKNK with no excuses or exceptions. And where were the much-publicised FKNK marshals? We only became aware of one who was active on Gozo.

But there have been some voices in the darkness. The Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association are calling for a serious enquiry in to the impact of hunting on tourism, which accounts for 40 per cent of the Maltese economy.

Meanwhile the call from the Maltese people for an end to spring hunting grow by the day, as witnessed by a Times of Malta online poll, which saw more than 75 per cent calling for an early end to the season.

Moreover, there are growing demands from international conservationists and European politicians for Malta to play by the rules of the EU and not spend its time actively searching for loopholes.

Rest assured Birdlife Malta will be at the forefront of this growing movement to see an end to spring hunting. But we owe to it those birds that have already been needlessly shot and killed to work with the Government and the FKNK where we can to make the best of a bad situation.

Steve Micklewright is the executive director of Birdlife Malta.