The government said today it would increase the fines for the shooting of protected birds tenfold.
It made the announcement after news that at least two White Storks were shot down over Malta yesterday.
They were in a flock of 13 birds which flew in yesterday.
The shooting was condemned by the government, which also said it would deploy a drone to assist its law enforcement.
The two birds were shot down over Maghtab. The shooting was filmed by a team from CABS (see top).
Birdlife said the shooting down of a third bird, over Mosta, could not be immediately confirmed.
A football fan said that yesterday afternoon the birds flew over Ta' Qali stadium, where they 'put on a show'.
"We were all staring at them in amazement," the fan said.
By the end of the game, just an hour later word came out that four storks had already been shot down and the rest split in two as they searched for a roosting spot.
Some of the birds roosted at Ta' Kandia where the police kept watch.
GOVERNMENT CONDEMNATION
In a statement, the government said criminals caught shooting protected birds would find no refuge amongst law-abiding community.
"The Government condemns the hideous shooting of protected storks that occurred yesterday and has deployed the necessary resources to investigate the incident and to bring perpetrators to justice," the government said.
"In a drive to stamp out illegal targeting of protected species, last October the Government revamped national legislation and doubled applicable penalties for illegal shooting of protected birds.
Parliamentary Secretary Roderick Galdes said that while, as documented in the enforcement report published last Saturday, significant improvement in enforcement occurred over the past few months, the latest incident showed that some rogue individuals were still undeterred from committing such brazen crimes.
The Government would do whatever was necessary to bring perpetrators to justice and eliminate the possibility of such acts occurring in the future.
Penalties to increase tenfold
"In the next few days, the Government shall publish further amendments to the Conservation of Wild Birds Regulations. These amendments will include a provision that any shooting or trapping for protected species listed in Schedules I and IX of these Regulations, even in the case of a first time offence, will automatically incur penalty comprising of €5,000 fine, and / or imprisonment for one year, as well as permanent revocation of license and confiscation of corpus delicti. In case of second or subsequent offence, the applicable penalty will go up to €10,000, confiscation, and / or imprisonment for two years.
"These measures represent a ten-fold increase in the presently applicable minimum fine for first time and subsequent offences, whilst permanent revocation of licence, and imprisonment, which, at present, only apply to repeat offenders, will also apply in the case of a first time offence in such cases."
He said the government was also taking further steps to increase field surveillance. Amongst other measures, the Police shall be deploying a recently acquired specialised unmanned aerial surveillance vehicle.
HUNTERS CONDEMN SHOOTING
In a statement, the hunters' association Kaccaturi San Ubertu (KSU) said it unreservedly condemned the reported shooting of the White storks and commended government’s intention of increasing surveillance and the penalties for crimes against protected species.
"It is certainly in the interest of legal hunting that the perpetrators of such crime be given the maximum penalties permitted by law," the association said.
"KSU augur that the envisaged introduction of a wildlife crime unit within the police force be fast tracked and that the introduction of harsher penalties coupled with appropriate court sentencing will eradicate the persistent small element of abuse that only serves to discredit all law abiding hunters."
BIRDLIFE WELCOMES PROMISE TO INCREASE FINES
BirdLife Malta said it welcomed the announcement of tougher mandatory penalties for the most serious offences against wildlife - the shooting and trapping of “highly protected species” of birds.
“In light of the years that BirdLife Malta and other conservation organisations have been campaigning for better legal protection for wild birds from the threat of direct persecution in Malta, we hope that this will act as an improved deterrent to would-be poachers,” said the organisation’s Conservation Manager, Nicholas Barbara.
The conservation organisation said it also looked forward to the setting up of the long-awaited wildlife crime unit, as well as a review of the tactics employed by police to detect, gather evidence against and apprehend illegal hunters and trappers.
BirdLife said it was not aware of the authorities having apprehended any suspects in relation to any of this weekend’s incidents, and put this down to overstretched personnel in the ALE not having the capacity to respond to or prevent so many incidents across the length and breadth of the islands.