The Federation for Hunting and Conservation Malta (FKNK) said yesterday it was happy to note that Malta’s two and only main migratory game-species, the turtle dove and the quail, still enjoy a very healthy and sound conservation status in the wild. This was in stark contrast to the misrepresentations that BirdLife (Malta) has been feeding ad nauseam to the public at large, it argued. It said that since time immemorial the turtle dove and the quail have been hunted in spring, rendering the passion a socio-cultural Maltese tradition.

The FKNK referred to the recently published Red List of Threatened Species of Birds, by BirdLife International and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which put the turtle dove and the quail in the “Least Concern” categories.

But digging deeper in the additional details supplied, FKNK said, it was of particular concern to note that both the turtle dove and quail have been classified as native and breeding in Malta.

“Here the FKNK immediately suspects misrepresentative information that must have been supplied by none other than the local sector personnel of BirdLife, in particular by biologist Dr A. Raine,” it added. Dr Raine has only been employed by BirdLife (Malta) since last year, and immediately proclaimed himself to be an expert regarding the status and migration of wild birds over the Maltese islands, FKNK said.

The FKNK said that while it was true that at times a particular finch species has attempted to raise a nest or two in the wild in Malta, the occurrences have been far apart and success very minimal. Quail nests, which were few, have disappeared from the islands ever since the introduction of modern harvesting machines, while every year a pair or two of turtle doves do manage to nest in Malta’s only small wood,Buskett. It has now been the second year in succession that finches’ trapping in spring has not been permitted, but no finches’ nests have been reported in the wild in the Maltese islands. Not last year, not this year.

This spring also saw the prohibition of turtle dove and quail hunting and trapping, and yet not a single turtle dove or quail is in sight in the wild in the Maltese islands, let alone any of both species’ nests!

With these facts the listing of both the turtle dove and quail as ‘native’ on the Maltese Islands in IUCN’s 2008 Red List can only be termed as very incorrect information, the FKNK said.