The Police Commissioner, Peter Paul Zammit, has told this portal that the officer who allegedly passed unpleasant remarks towards BirdLife Malta’s members on Monday, as was reported by BLM, is under investigation but so is the BLM representative who was questioned by police following the incident.
Asked why the BLM member was also under investigation, the police commissioner said that BLM illegally keeps protected birds found to be injured by an illegal poacher with the excuse that they would be taking them to a vet.
“It is illegal to be in possession of a protected bird,” he said.
He said that to date, BLM has never presented a certificate issued by a veterinarian related to injured protected birds.
Speaking to this portal this morning, Birdlife questioned whether police will be taking action after it said that handed over the sound recording of the officer’s alleged remarks to police inspector Jurgen Vella.
On Monday, BLM issued a press release stating that one of its members was taken to the Floriana police HQ after BLM representatives, who were out on the field monitoring spring hunting-related activities, called 119 to report an alleged poacher.
BLM said that when the officers arrived at the scene, an hour after the report was lodged, the officers were more interested in BLM’s activities than catching the alleged perpetrator.
BLM alleged that an ALE officer called BLM’s members ‘pufti kollha’ (you are faggots, the lot of you).
BLM executive director Steve Micklewright said that BLM had a sound recording of the comment made by the officer concerned, which they passed on to the police, calling for the immediate suspension of this officer.
Mr Micklewright explained that when they requested the police commissioner to provide an ALE officer to accompany BLM’s team during a raptor camp or spring watch, they were denied assistance. This claim has been denied by the commissioner.
He said that the commissioner argued that instead of providing them with an officer, the Police Force was looking to increase the general presence of ALE officers.
Mr Micklewright said that until last September, BLM always had an ALE officer accompanying them.
“But since then, the commissioner requested that if they witnessed something which in their view is an illegality, they should report it immediately by dialing 119.
“This is exactly what we did, we reported the alleged illegality but instead one of our members ended up being questioned by police officers,” he lamented.
“We have always paid the officer accompanying us so that the government won’t have the burden of forking out the funds to provide such as service to BLM,” he said.
It is understood that the BLM members spotted a hunters’ dog on Monday with a dead bird in its mouth while also spotting a hunter in the vicinity. This is when BLM called 119 for police assistance. The bird was a Little Bittern, a protected species.
BLM reacts to commissioner’s comments
Reacting to the police commissioner’s comments that BLM has been in possession of protected birds many a time with the excuse that it would take the birds to a vet but to date, has never seen any certificates of the sort, BLM said that it is regularly contacted by members of the public who encounter and rescue injured birds found in the countryside including protected species.
“In the interest of the welfare of such birds, BirdLife Malta takes such cases to the attention of a veterinary.
“Each case is documented, photographed and reported to the ALE, the Wild Birds Regulation Unit, and the Ministry for Environment, including details of diagnosis and outcome of each case.
“Such measures are taken to ensure a timely and non-bureaucratic intervention for the bird’s welfare, as well as to understand the reasons why various species end up injured in the countryside. Unfortunately most of the cases relate to illegal hunting,” BLM said.