BirdLife Malta has stated that it believes that after a week since the opening of a spring hunting season on the European Turtle-dove (Gamiema), the quota of 1,500 catches has been superseded.

It said that the migrating numbers of Turtle-doves and the intensity of hunting activity witnessed since the opening of the season are among the indicators, apart from higher participation of hunters making use of the countryside, including public areas that could not be enjoyed by the general public.

Various illegalities such as the use of illegal electronic callers have intensified the killing of this vulnerable species in past days.

BirdLife Malta CEO Mark Sultana stated: “There isn’t a doubt in our minds and in the minds of anyone else with some common sense that the data submitted by hunters related to their catches are purposely under-declared in order for the season to remain open irrespective of the number of Turtle-doves hunted.”

“We have seen under-declaring over and over again, and once again we have to stop beating around the bush and call this farce a farce,” he stressed.

“Assuming that every day during the first week of the season, only 400 hunters caught just one Turtle-dove each on each day of the week, this unrealistically conservative scenario would already reach the figure of 2,800 turtle-doves, nearly double the national hunting bag limit for this species.”

Apart from the illegal targeting of Turtle-doves ahead of 17th April, the 12 days of the season have to date been characterised with daily widespread illegalities from the use of electronic callers and the trapping of Turtle-doves using cage traps and clap nets.

Teams have counted over 300 shots in a singular morning from a singular location mostly aimed at Turtle-doves during good migration days in the past week.

What do you make of this story?