Four protected birds were shot down in the past 24 hours, according to incidents witnessed by the Committee Against Bird Slaughter (CABS).

They included a Kestrel killed near Safi at around 7.35 am today, a honey buzzard shot down in Has-Saptan valley at around 8.15 am and a grey heron which was blasted out of the sky close to Bidni (near Marsascala) at 8.23am.

Footage of the Bidni case was shown to an Administrative Law Enforcement police patrol which arrived 40 minutes after CABS alerted the police. The officers conducted a search in the area but did not find either the dead bird or the person who shot it down.

“The poacher would have had enough time to hide the bird or to leave the area with his illegal prey,” CABS spokesman Axel Hirschfeld.

He said CABS had been informed that two of the ALE off-road vehicles used for hunting surveillance are currently not available due to various malfunctions thus decimating the number of police patrols in the field.

CABS said that yesterday afternoon its team observed a hunter killing a protected bee-eater in Gozo. After he realised he was being watched, the hunter drove off, shouting insults at the birdwatchers. Footage of the hunter and his car has  been handed to the police.

The locations of 38 static bird caller installations used for hunting and trapping of quails, teals, song thrush and several protected wader species will also be handed to the police.