Birdlife Malta has taken its legal battle against the government to the next level after filing a court action claiming that Gozo Minister Clint Camilleri had no legal remit to issue spring hunting licenses.

Before this season, the Wild Birds Regulation Unit fell under the remit of the Environment Ministry. This changed once Camilleri moved onto tthe Gozo Ministry.

“It is only the Minister for the Environment that can administer the environmental legislations and anything that derives from it, including the WBRU,” Birdlife Malta explained.

Birdlife’s previous attempts to get all 6,000 hunting licences rescinded was shot down by the courts.

This year’s spring hunting season opened to controversy, with conservationists warning that enforcement would be negligible while police officers focus on overseeing COVID-19 measures.

In a press conference in front of the courts, Birdlife said that thousands of protected and vulnerable Turtle-doves were shot. It also said that a record number of other protected birds had been shot down this season.

In just over 20 days, 44 protected birds were shot. The birds varied from bird of prey species such as Common Kestrel, Marsh Harrier, Honey-buzzard and Black Kite to Hoopoe, Bee-eater, Yellow-legged Gull, Collared Dove, Little Egret, Grey Heron, Common Swift, Golden Oriole, Nightjar, and Stone Curlew.

“This season was again a smokescreen for illegalities and designed in a way to allow hunters to shoot at, and kill Turtle-doves in spite of the fact it was supposedly open only for Quail,” it said.

Birdlife has submitted its report to the European Commission.

There are more tensions brewing over the government’s plans to grant large swathes of green public land over to hunters.