A significant decrease in the targeting of protected species has been reported by BirdLife today as the three-week ban to the autumn hunting season came to an end.

BirdLife said incidents recorded during this year’s Raptor Camp were down by 60 per cent in comparison to last year’s autumn hunting season.

BirdLife said it monitored the first days of the hunting season and the subsequent days of the hunting ban that started on September 20 through its annual Raptor Camp, with volunteers recording 98 illegal hunting incidents between September 15 and October 6.

An adult honey buzzard in Gharghur on September 23. Photo: Tim Micallef

A total of 236 incidents were recorded in the same period last year. The majority of the incidents included hunting during the days of the ban, with shots in certain localities recorded during the early morning hours.

Commenting in reaction to the three-week ban, BirdLife Malta conservation manager Nicholas Barbara said the fact that the ban resulted in fewer illegal hunting incidents confirmed that open season acted as a cover for more illegal hunting. The end result has been less protected species being shot, and a spectacular peaceful migration of birds of all kinds, he said.

Cases of shot injured birds found by the public also showed a stark reduction with eight birds recovered since the start of the season, in comparison to 22 cases last year. There were nine witnessed incidents of shooting at protected species compared to 55 last year, including the targeting of a short-toed eagle at Dwejra last week.

BirdLife reiterated its call to government to re-introduce the hunting curfew after 3pm during the peak raptor migration between September 15 and October 7.

Executive director Steve Micklewright said it was encouraging that the government took the right decision to close the season when faced with the number of illegalities.

“We now hope that the government increases the fines for cases of illegal shooting of protected birds, reintroduces the afternoon curfew during the autumn hunting season and works on establishing a wildlife crime unit that can improve the detection and prosecution rate of targeting protected species.”