Over 170 illegalities have been witnessed in the first three weeks of Malta’s hunting season.

“Over just three weeks during the start of the season in September, BirdLife Malta’s Raptor Camp volunteers witnessed over 170 illegalities, with protected birds shot before and during the season,” BirdLife Malta said in a statement.

Among the recorded illegalities, hunters in Gozo were seen chasing birds of prey before roosting, a Greater Flamingo was shot down off the coast of Gozo, a shot Grey Heron was found in Mġarr, and an illegally shot Osprey was recovered from Comino.

“Lack of self-discipline by hunters and lack of police presence is leading to rampant illegalities which are once again characterising this year’s autumn hunting season.”

“Police units were down to just one unit on Malta, and zero on Gozo despite the peak migration,” it said, with the organisation promising that it will focus its future efforts on Gozo.

“A summary of the ongoing autumn hunting season so far was provided during a BirdLife Malta press conference. The season runs until the end of January 2023 and so far 28 illegally shot protected birds were recovered by BirdLife Malta and police.”

“The figures confirm the increasing trend of past years – from 2018 to date, 700 protected birds were confirmed as illegally shot in contrast to 266 in the previous five-year period (2013-2017).”

From the 170 illegalities witnessed, teams participating in this year’s Raptor Camp have mainly noted the use of electronic callers, protected birds seen being shot down or others flying with evident gunshot wounds.

“When the Environmental Protection Unit (EPU) was called and officials could attend to our call, they did so efficiently and with positive results. This was however not the norm as it seems that the EPU at times had only one vehicle available for the whole island,” head of conservation Nicholas Barbara said.

It is clear and evident that the EPU is understaffed and is low on resources, making it easy for the undisciplined hunter to feel at ease when breaking the law, BirdLife continued. 

“In Gozo, police enforcement was practically absent. Not only is EPU not allowed to operate in Gozo, but it seems the Gozo Police were always reluctant to be in the countryside when they were called in.”

What do you make of all these illegalities?