A protected black stork was killed by gunfire over Buskett yesterday morning in a crime captured on camera by Birdlife Malta volunteers.
Ornithologist Natalino Fenech, who also witnessed the shooting, was the first to locate the lifeless stork just after 7am.
“I am outraged. It is disgusting that such incidents are still happening in 2013,” Dr Fenech said.
Video footage captured by volunteers from Birdlife’s Raptor Camp, which observes the autumn migration of birds of prey, showed the bird crash landing in the wooded area after shots rang out.
Dr Fenech, who had woken early to witness the migration spectacle, said he found the dead bird with fresh blood oozing from its mouth.
He added that the bird appeared to have suffered additional gunshot wounds the day before it was killed as it had congealed blood on its legs.
Dr Fenech was accompanied by his friend – an experienced hunter – who was said to be close to tears when he saw the lifeless stork.
Black storks are relatively rare migrants through the Maltese islands, with usually only a small number visiting each year.
Conservationist NGO Birdlife explained that six black storks arrived in Malta at 5pm on Wednesday and looked for somewhere to roost.
One was seen landing in the trees in Buskett below Verdala Palace. The other five birds flew in the direction of Dingli Cliffs before disappearing out of sight.
The watching Raptor Camp team at Buskett observed several “suspicious vehicles” in the area and alerted the police to the presence of one of the protected birds.
Two Raptor Camp volunteers, including Ian Thomson, RSPB Scotland’s head of investigations, worked with police officers to guard the black stork overnight.
Mr Thomson described the need to guard the bird as an “appalling necessity”.
It was shot as it tried to fly away yesterday morning with another black stork, which was not hit.
Mr Thomson said: “It is an absolute disgrace that species in which considerable conservation resources and effort are put elsewhere in Europe continue to be slaughtered in Malta’s skies in the 21st century.”
The shooting of the black stork was strongly condemned by the FKNK and St Hubert’s Hunters (KSU), the two main groups representing hunters in Malta.
KSU called on the judiciary to implement the harshest penalties for such crimes.
I am outraged. It is disgusting that such incidents are still happening
It said that the envisaged introduction of a wildlife crime unit within the police force and harsher, more specific penalties coupled with appropriate court sentencing will eradicate this “small element of abuse”.
The FKNK noted that many other protected birds had passed over Malta on the day the black stork arrived without being targeted. It vowed to do everything within its power to “ensure that such primitive acts [illegal hunting] cease.”
In response, Steve Micklewright, Birdlife’s executive director, said: “The FKNK’s use of the media to condemn illegal acts after they have happened is no substitute for reporting illegal hunters to police and providing evidence that enables them to be convicted.”
Asked for his opinion on the amount of illegalities, Dr Fenech said the situation has gradually improved in the past 10 years “but there are still too many incidents, particularly involving rare, protected birds”.
He added that if poachers were aware of just how taxing it was for protected species to undertake their twice-yearly migration, they would perhaps think twice about shooting them.
This year the Government made some adjustments to the conditions of the autumn hunting season imposed in recent years. Most notably, hunting is now allowed until 7pm during the peak weeks of the migration period, when previously it was stopped at 3pm.
The Government also vowed to introduce unprecedented levels of enforcement to deter and apprehend law breakers. Hunters and conservationists disagree on whether this has happened.