BirdLife Malta officials complained this morning that seven weeks after three cars belonging to bird watchers were torched at Buskett, there had been no apparent progress in investigations.

"This is sending a dangerous message as violence continues to be the method chosen by some people to communicate their message," BirdLife Malta president Joseph Mangion said.

He spoke at a press conference on the scene of the incident, which took place on February 17. The press conference was held in front of a large banner which read: "Will will not forget, we will not be silenced".

Mr Magion urged the government and the police to be more aggressive in their efforts to find who was responsible, pointing out that acts of violence at Foresta 2000 grove and at Ghadira reserve had also gone unpunished.

BirdLife, he said, remained committed to promoting a love for birds and protecting the Maltese environment, and would not be intimidated or silenced.

Mr Mangion said that as the spring migration season was picking up, so too were calls from members of the general public to BirdLife’s office reporting on illegal hunting and trapping activities. “Since the election date we have been witnessing a serious increase in illegal activities related to trapping and hunting. The ALE with its limited resources is clearly not enough to cope with the scale of these wild life crimes. “It is imperative that the government takes this issue seriously and does not allow a blanket spring hunting and trapping season. Those who kill protected species are criminals and have to be punished by the full force of law.”

Mr Mangion said BirdLife would be holding a "Spring Watch" between April 12 and 29, and it was hoped that this would be the first April during which spring hunting would officially not be allowed.

The European Court is currently considering a request by the European Commission to issue an interim order to ban hunting this spring, pending a final decision by the court on whether spring hunting should be permanently banned. The hunters' federation on Friday wrote to the prime minister urging him to allow spring hunting if it was found that the court was unduly delaying its decision.

Mr Mangion said the international federation of hunters (known as FACE) and BirdLife International had an agreement to respect the EU's Birds Directive and the Maltese federation, as a member of FACE, should do so too.

Picture: The three cars belonging to bird watchers, torched at Buskett in February.