Rupert Masefield, Birdlife Malta’s press officer, was the person who was arrested by ALE officers on Monday following a report made by the group to police related to a protected bird which had been allegedly shot by a hunter.

Mr Masefield was held after he was warned three times to refrain from filming the police officers, footage taken by BirdLife shows.

Yesterday, Police Commissioner Peter Paul Zammit told this portal that the police officer who allegedly passed offensive remarks towards BLM representatives is being investigated, but so is a BLM member, who, it turns out, is Mr Masefield.

On Monday, BLM officers, who were monitoring activities related to the Spring Watch, called 119 for police assistance after they spotted a dead protected bird in the mouth of a hunter’s dog. They also spotted a hunter in the vicinity, who denied he shot the bird.

When officers arrived at the scene – BLM is claiming that the officers arrived an hour later after the call was made – the BLM representative was asked by the police to join them at the police depot in Floriana. He was held for questioning for two hours and then released.

The Police Commissioner said that BLM’s member was investigated over the fact that it is illegal to be in possession of a protected bird, claiming that BLM has always kept protected birds, injured due to gunshot wounds, in its possession on the pretext that the birds would be taken to be seen by a veterinarian. No certificate by a veterinarian has however been presented.

BLM immediately reacted to his comments and said that in the interest of such birds, it always has brought such cases to the attention of a veterinarian.