BirdLife Malta and CABS, the Munich-based anti-bird hunting group, in separate statements today called for the enforcement of environmental and hunting laws.
In a letter to Police Commissioner Lawrence Cutajar, CABS complained about almost inexistant enforcement of the hunting laws at night.
Instead of taking a clear stand against wildlife crime, the police appeared to be actually tolerating the illegal trapping of plovers and the widespread use of illegal electronic bird callers during the night, it said.
"This impression is based on the fact that, despite a clear legal ban, in more than 83% of the cases reported by CABS the police simply did not respond to reports of illegal night trapping or the use of illegal bird callers."
CABS said that its teams have been monitoring and reporting illegal night
trapping of Golden Plover and other nocturnal bird species on Malta and Gozo during November and December since 2014. 43 calls were made to the police, to report in excess of 100 illegal trapping sites and electronic lures.
One of a few cases where the Gozo police responded to a report and subsequently were able to dismantle an active trapping site in the night. (CABS)All reports were made by phone. Thirty-six of these 43 reports were not acted upon. The majority of district police stations simply refused to respond to reports.
"Most of the officers we spoke to on the phone openly declared that the district police would not do anything; arguing that they were not trained for this, it was too dangerous and they were busy. Instead they tried to refer us to their colleagues from the ALE who, as you know, cannot be reached during night hours," CABS complained to the commissioner.
As a result of this situation only three known cases - representing less than 2% of all night-incidents reported by CABS since November 2014 – resulted in charges being issued to the offenders.
"Such a low prosecution rate is nothing else than a declaration of bankruptcy of the Malta Police Force in dealing with a severe conservation problem. This endangers populations of certain bird species, but also the reputation of Malta's law enforcement system, especially because the problem has been known for many years, and it would be very easy to eradicate it provided that more resources were allocated to the ALE and clear protocols were established within the district police," CABS said.
It noted that former commissioner Michael Cassar had said that the ALE's hours would be changed so as to curb illegal trapping at night.
"Nearly two years later the situation is still totally out of control with electronic
lures calling loud all over the island and the ALE not on duty after 9.30pm," CABS said, while calling for the situation to be rectified.
BIRDLIFE: LAW AND ORDER INCLUDES RESPECT FOR ENVIRONMENTAL LAWS
Meanwhile, BirdLife Malta in a separate statement noted Prime Minister Joseph Muscat’s speech last Sunday on the need for law and order.
"It is clear that the Prime Minister wishes to improve law and order but he fails to see the urgent need to enforce environmental laws," the ornithological group said.
"In Malta today there is a breakdown in the enforcement of environmental laws resulting in irreparable damage to the natural environment. Law and order in Malta’s countryside is inexistent and we are today calling on the Prime Minister to place the environment as a priority."
BirdLife Malta CEO Mark Sultana said: “It is disheartening to see the government place environment at the bottom of its priorities. As things stand, there is no
enforcement in Malta’s countryside.
"If we are to talk of law and order, then we should be aware that today the number of infringements occurring in the environment sector are too numerous to ignore. To start with, one must mention the illegal occupation of land by trappers, land that is both public and private.
"Secondly, there is the widespread use of illegal artificial means of capture and
thirdly the killing of protected species.”