A total of 17 illegally shot protected birds were recovered by BirdLife this season, half of them protected turtle doves, as the spring hunting season came to an end on Saturday.

The number of shot birds collected by the public, police and BirdLife clearly indicate this has been one of the worst spring hunting seasons in past years, the NGO said. 

"The 17 protected birds confirmed shot by the veterinary are the tip of the iceberg this season, which was supposedly open only for quail, should put to shame all those that defended it in the first place," BLM said.

To make things worse, the change in dates chosen by the government – against scientific data and against the Environment and Resources Authority's advice - was nothing more than a smokescreen for hunters to target this vulnerable species.

"It is clear that this year there were thousands of this species shot over our islands, in particular during the past days when shooting at this protected bird spiralled out of control."

The government should feel cheated if it really believed it could trust the hunters that they would not shoot on anything but quail during this season.

"Changing the dates of the season to coincide with the peak season of turtle dove was a big mistake that should embarrass the government and those who advised it to do so," BirdLife Malta CEO Mark Sultana said.

“We can only but hope that the government understands that it cannot continue accepting the wrong advice on the issue of spring hunting while we promise to push for the European Commission to investigate whether this decision to allow hunting during the turtle dove's peak migration goes against the spirit of the European Birds Directive and any form of derogation from it.”