During the first week of Operation Safe Haven, CABS bird guards have observed the shooting down of at least five birds of prey and in two cases were able to film the incident. “Although raptor migration has been relatively weak for the past seven days, shooting at protected birds has taken place in a number of areas,” says CABS general secretary Alexander Heyd.
On 10 September, near the village of Bahrija, a marsh harrier with severe shotgun injuries was found and delivered to the recovery centre of the IAR, a CABS Maltese partner. Despite receiving intensive care the bird died on the same day. On 11 September, again in the Bahrija area, a CABS patrol observed several hunters firing a dozen shots into a flock of some 20 high-flying marsh harriers at the same time. At least one of the birds was hit.
Three days later the conservationists saw a flock of honey buzzards coming under fire near Ghar Lapsi. As the birds were flying very high they escaped over the sea unscathed. Another honey buzzard leaving its night roost on Monday morning at Fawwara was not so fortunate. Seconds after leaving a tree it was shot down with a well-aimed shot. A CABS team stationed on the road from Girgenti to the Ta’ Zuta Underground Chapel was able to film the incident at close range. An ALE patrol called to the scene by CABS searched the area but neither the shooter nor his victim was found.
On the morning of 17 September a CABS team near the Freeport witnessed a hunter shooting down a honey buzzard with at least 10 shots. As the shooter was out of sight behind a ridge it was impossible to identify him. At roughly the same time another CABS team filmed the shooting down of a hobby near the Blue Grotto. Again, the rough terrain made it impossible to locate or identify the culprit or find the dead or injured bird. In addition to direct observations of the shooting down of protected bird species, large gaps in the plumage of a hobby, a honey buzzard, a marsh harrier and a Peregrine falcon were observed and recorded. “As birds of prey do not moult during migration, these injuries are almost certainly caused by gunshot,” states Alexander Heyd.
In addition to monitoring raptor roosts by day, since Wednesday CABS has also deployed several teams at night, entrusted with locating and mapping electronic quail lures. Although the use of these devices is clearly forbidden under Maltese hunting legislation, some 60 such illegal callers have so far been located on about 10 per cent of the undeveloped land. CABS estimates that Maltese hunters have installed a total of several hundred illegal ‘bird callers’, in order to lure the birds, which migrate at night, on to their guns. Heyd states: “This practice is quite clearly a contravention of the European bird protection guidelines. It can therefore be assumed that a large number of the quail shot each year on Malta are killed illegally.”
CABS will continue operations to combat illegal hunting on Malta, and to report offenders to the authorities for prosecution, until 4 October. Video material showing the shooting down of birds of prey, as well as the illegal use of electronic lures by hunters, will be published on Youtube in the next few weeks.