The Committee Against Bird Slaughter, one of BirdLife's partners, has promised a reward of €10,000 to whoever helps catch the five masked men who threw rocks at one of its cars near Il-Qaws, Delimara, on Saturday.

However, BirdLife distanced itself from this method of seeking justice, saying it still believed law enforcement authorities were the only means for justice to be pursued.

CABS president Heinz Schwarze said it was only a matter of luck that no one was seriously hurt in the attack and it would pay €2,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of each of the five criminals.

"It is not usually our policy to resort to such means. But in view of the escalating violence against our members we have decided this step is now necessary," he said.

CABS also announced it would soon publish photos which identify poachers in the countryside on its website so people could help the police identify them.

"The police have not yet been able to identify all the poachers filmed by us in the last two weeks," said CABS spokesman Axel Hirschfeld.

CABS's statement comes as reports emerged that another one of its teams of bird conservationists was attacked in Cyprus on Saturday.

After dismantling 30 lime sticks and freeing protected migrant species, they were "savagely attacked" by four Cypriot men with stones, fists and boots.

The CABS members, a mixed Italian, German and British team, had spent the day locating and destroying illegal traps and cleaning the sticky lime from the songbirds before releasing them.

An American journalist from New Yorker magazine who was accompanying the team described the scene as "a war zone".

Despite distancing itself from the reward, BirdLife sent a letter to the Prime Minister to say that criminal acts had to be prioritised to stem further violence and vandalism.

BirdLife said it had given the police information of a possible attack of vandalism at the Għadira nature reserve.

"BirdLife Malta is urging you to give the matter the attention it deserves. The lack of action taken so far to apprehend the perpetrators of repeated vandalism and violence is only serving to encourage further attacks, as is evident particularly in Mellieħa," it wrote.

It then listed a series of cases of vandalism, including attacks on the Foresta 2000 site, the Għadira nature reserve, attacks on birdwatchers, and the torching of three ringers' cars in Buskett.

"Not one single individual has been brought to justice. In a country of this size, this is absolutely incomprehensible and utterly inexcusable."