Do not be afraid of the hunting lobby and start taking seriously the damage inflicted by hunting, BirdLife Malta has warned MPs.

This year's number of illegal killings of protected birds will probably make it the worst in six years, the NGO said on Monday.

There were 82 known cases of shot protected birds last year, and 78 illegally shot protected birds in the first seven months of this year, BirdLife officials said outside Parliament.

There, they handed out leaflets giving this information to MPs who were on their way to a parliamentary session.

“This situation is the result of several factors including the lack of discipline among hunters, the fact that we still don’t have a specific section in the Malta Police Corps that deals exclusively with environmental crime, and the changes in legislation that have weakened nature protection in Malta, in particular the protection of birds,” a spokesman said.

“Another reason – probably the most worrying one – that is leading to an increase in illegal hunting in Malta, is that the government does not have the courage to restrain these illegalities and is staying silent.”

Above all, BirdLife insisted it was about time that Malta had a government that was not afraid of those who broke the law, and seriously showed it would no longer tolerate illegal hunting.

According to BirdLife, the government should commit itself to: 

- Establish the Wildlife Crime Unit that now enjoys the support of the ORNIS Committee so that enforcement by the police authorities can focus exclusively on the natural environment 

- Address Malta’s environmental laws that instead of helping, are hindering their own enforcement

- Address the problem of taxidermy of protected birds 

- Address the problem of hunting seasons which are only serving as smokescreens for illegal hunting in spring, and also during the first months of autumn