A pale-phase juvenile honey buzzard was yesterday put down because of severe internal injury caused by gunshot, Birdlife said.

The bird was initially recovered by the police from the sea in Wied Iż-Żurrieq on Thursday and handed over to the organisation.

Birdlife said yesterday morning it received another honey buzzard bearing gunshot-inflicted injuries and police Administration Law Enforcement (ALE) unit officers recovered a third from Laferla Cross, limits of Siġġiewi.

In addition, Birdlife said, four hunters were yesterday afternoon sighted in a boat in the Gozo channel shooting at a party of little egrets.

The sea hunting season is closed and will open in October.

As bird migration gathers pace across the Mediterranean, Birdlife voiced its anger at the despicable actions of irresponsible hunters who shoot protected birds right in front of international and Maltese birdwatchers participating in Birdlife's Raptor Camp.

"The increasing number of incidents coincides with the half-way point of Birdlife's Raptor Camp, which started on Saturday.

"The aim of the initiative is to have teams of birdwatchers monitoring key sites to assess the numbers of birds passing through the island and to work with the authorities to clamp down on illegal hunting," the NGO explained.

Tolga Temuge, executive director of Birdlife, said: "Some Maltese hunters continue to disregard the law and protected wildlife by opting to gun down protected species. The hunting lobby's denial of the scale of illegal hunting is clearly encouraging illegal hunters. Those who claim to be law-abiding hunters are also guilty if they do not report the illegal shooting of protected species that they witness".

Birdlife predicted that the illegal killing of protected birds will rise rapidly over the next few days as the numbers of birds passing through increases. It called on the government to double the fines for repeat offenders and suspend the licences temporarily.