Another three police officers from the administrative law enforcement unit that monitors hunting and trapping have been transferred, a move sources say further weakens the squad.

The Times of Malta reported in April 2014 that eight of the unit’s most experienced officers had been moved to police stations. Half of them had more than a decade of experience in the field. All were known to be Nationalist Party supporters, except for one who joined the President’s security detail.

The latest transfers came as a surprise, sources said, noting that the officers were Labour Party sympathisers. They did their job well, the sources said, adding that their efforts to stem hunting and trapping illegalities could have annoyed certain quarters.

Two of the three officers transferred each had close to 20 years of experience in the field. The third was an inspector. All three were highly praised by those who knew them for “doing their best to accomplish the task”.

Doing their best to accomplish the task

The inspector – the only one in the unit in recent years – was replaced by another who, although having some 15 years’ experience in the force, so far served in the forensic lab.

The move came as the Ornis committee last week recommended the reopening of a spring hunting season for turtle dove and quail this year. The recommendation follows the narrow victory of the pro-hunting lobby in a referendum last year to ban the controversial practice of killing birds while on their way to their breeding grounds.

The committee also voted unanimously to approve the implementation of “special measures” to reduce the impact of spring hunting on turtle doves in view of the international reclassification of the species as threatened.

Turtle dove numbers across the globe have plummeted so rapidly the birds now face the possibility of extinction.

There was no information on the “special measures” to be introduced or why they would be effective.