The “shortest-ever hunting season”, which ended yesterday, produced very poor migrating numbers of both turtle doves and quail, according to hunters.

“I can vouch for several members of the [hunting federation] FKNK who haven’t even fired a single shot at these birds, let alone bagged any – I have managed to bag one turtle dove,” FKNK CEO Lino Farrugia told this newspaper.

“The total national bag for both birds may not go beyond the 2,000 mark out of the derogated permissible number of 10,000 for both species.”

Mr Farrugia said this was due to several factors, mainly the limited hunting period, which only opened on April 17, and the “so-called bag-limit” of a maximum of two birds in any one half-day and a maximum of four birds throughout the whole season.

“I have used the term ‘so-called’, because a bag limit is being applied in Malta for the incorrect reasons, and no one seems to understand, or pretends to understand, the real significance and what a bag limit is all about.”

The warm weather did not help either, he added.

We keep on being proven right over and over again that with open seasons we see more illegalities

On the shooting of protected birds, Mr Farrugia said that while he did not have any details on the recent reports, if the offender brought to justice was a member of FKNK, his membership would be revoked, which would also mean his hunting licence not being renewed.

He said such illegal activities have been reduced to “practically zero, a situation that is envied by all other EU member states”.

Malta opened the spring season by applying a derogation to the EU Birds Directive, and yesterday, Birdlife Malta and the Committee Against Bird Slaughter again urged the government to take a stance against spring hunting, insisting on stricter enforcement.

During the two-week period, four protected birds were found shot, prompting both organisations to claim the problem of illegal hunting was “far from over”.

Birdlife CEO Mark Sultana said that the zero tolerance approach adopted by the government last year was nothing but a ruse. Last year, the government closed the season after three protected birds were shot but this was not the case this year, Mr Sultana complained.

“Nobody can blame us for believing that the government’s zero tolerance policy was a gimmick.

“We keep on being proven right over and over again that with open seasons we see more illegalities, that the illegalities in Malta will increase the moment the pressure is weakened, and that it is fear of closure of the season, rather than goodwill, that is keeping the illegalities under check.

“The moment the fear factor is removed, we go back to illegal killing,” Mr Sultana insisted.

A similar sentiment was expressed by CABS press officer Axel Hirschfeld who said that the slight improvements noted this year were not because “the hunters had all of a sudden become animal lovers” but because they feared their licences would be revoked if caught.

This year, the Munich-based organisation had also raised the alarm about the high number of trapping cages it had discovered in Gozo.

Speaking to The Sunday Times of Malta following a five-day operation in Xagħra and Marsalforn, Mr Hirschfeld said that a total of 109 doves had been freed from trapping cages, 12 of which were protected collared doves.

“Earlier on during the week we deactivated five active cages. On Friday, three more cages were inspected by the Gozo police,” Mr Hirschfeld said. The cage trap installations are designed for the illegal mass-capturing of turtle doves, with CABS estimating there were over a hundred of these traps throughout the island.

The organisation’s volunteers, working closely with the Gozo police, had also found six traps which were deactivated by the hunters, the press officer said. It presumed that dozens more such traps had been dismantled as news that the police were investigating spread among hunters.

Another hunters’ association, Kaċċaturi San Ubertu, said the handful of incidents reported this hunting season, compared to recent years, portrayed a reality acknowledged by all except Birdlife Malta.

“KSU’s commitment and recommendations to the authorities to eradicate abuse are seeing the desired results,” president Mark Mifsud Bonnici said.

“This spring migration season was characterised by the usual influx of protected birds which carried on their migration unharmed,” he added, lauding the exemplary behaviour of the hunters.