A stone-curlew, a rare protected species, was passed on to BirdLife Malta with gunshot injuries on Monday, bringing the total number of shot protected birds received by BirdLife this autumn to 64.

The stone-curlew is a scarce visitor to the Maltese islands and is given extra protection under Annex 1 of the Birds Directive. Throughout Europe it has suffered extensive declines in recent decades. It has already become extinct in Slovenia and is one of England’s rare breeding birds, with a mere 347 breeding pairs in England.

The shot stone-curlew was found by Joseph Farell, director of the Tarxien Youth Centre in his field.

“I couldn’t believe it when BirdLife told me it was a protected bird,” said Mr Farell. “I don’t understand why they shoot them – is it just to put them in a showcase? Don’t I too have the right to enjoy them flying free?” Mr Farell told BirdLife.

The injured protected bird was taken to a veterinarian who confirmed that it suffered serious gunshot injuries to its right wing and both legs, and was in a state of starvation, indicating that the injury had occurred several days before.

BirdLife said that the stone-curlew is the 64th shot protected bird it received since the beginning of the migration season. This represents an increase of 129 per cent over the same period last year, when a total of 28 protected birds were received by BirdLife.