A bird monitoring team this morning observed a protected marsh harrier being shot down east of Safi, just 150 metres away from the runway strip of Malta International Airport.

The Committee Against Bird Slaughter said the bird was shot and was seen falling into a property surrounded by high walls and monitored by several CCTV cameras.

It said that the property was exclusively used for hunting and had been the scene of several bird of prey massacres in the last years.

"This small stretch of land is a black hole for protected birds since many years. The poachers inside the area know very well that they cannot be seen or filmed behind the walls and kill every bird which flies past," CABS press officer Axel Hirschfeld said.

Due to the number of protected birds that roosted and got killed in this area, the site should be declared a bird sanctuary, he said.

CABS said they alerted the police, who arrived 20 minutes later and conducted an intensive search.

“The officers climbed over the wall but could find neither the dead bird nor identify the person who shot it."

In another incident, CABS said it filmed a marsh harrier being shot down at Dingli cliffs at 4.45pm.

The police headquarters were informed at 4.50pm and tried to forward the call to the Administrative Law Enforcement, which could not be reached until 5.10pm.

"We tried to contact ALE directly but the officer on the phone told us they have orders not to accept reports from CABS unless they have been forwarded from the headquarters," Mr Hirschfeld said. 

He said an ALE patrol vehicle arrived at the scene at 5.40pm, 55 minutes after the first report was made.

Despite a video clearly showing that the bird was hit, the officers left without conducting a search in the area where the bird was shot down, CABS said.

It said it would upload online the footage of the Dingli incident tomorrow.

CABS also released a picture of a honey buzzard with severe shotgun injuries close to Buskett Gardens.