Parliamentary Secretary Roderick Galdes has rejected claims made by BBC journalist Chris Packam and accused the conservationist of staging a show for the cameras.
The incident in question saw Mr Packham being charged for assaulting two trappers. He was acquitted by a Gozo court after a video of the incident was shown to Magistrate Joe Mifsud.
In an interview with The Malta Independent, Mr Packham then claimed that a number of protected birds held within an illegal enclosure mysteriously vanished after he reported the incident to Gozitan police.
In reply, a spokesperson for Mr Galdes sent us the following comment: “On Tuesday 18 April, Gozo district police were alerted by Birdlife Malta to reports of suspected cage traps located in the limits of Xewkija and Qala. Police officers inspected what turned out to be normal aviaries that held several species of birds. The police notified the Wild Birds Regulation Unit, which scheduled an inspection, which Birdlife Malta requested to hold with urgency.
A WBRU inspection team was in Gozo within a couple of hours from the request to carry out a detailed examination of bird specimens found within the reported aviaries.
Little did the officers know that the reports were made to provide a setting for the filming of a documentary by British campaigner Chris Packham, who was assisted locally by Birdlife Malta and CABS employees. Whilst the officers responded to reports of alleged illegalities and carried out thorough inspections of the specimens found in aviaries, Chris Packham and his associates were tweeting incessantly, alleging: ‘Illegal birds in cage. All @ChrisGPackham & @nik_barbara can do is look on while authorities fail to deal with it.’
Tweets of this nature did not only misinform Chris Packham’s many twitter followers and unjustly portrayed the authorities as ‘failing to act’ at the very moment the authorities were carrying out their duties on site, but the British ‘naturalist has also given his verdict on the legality of birds held in the aviaries, which specialised authorities were still trying to establish at that very time.
Mr Packham’s tweets provoked expression of anger amongst hundreds of ill-informed followers in the UK, some of whom chose to troll various Maltese authorities over the past few days with emails the content of which was insulting and degrading towards Malta and the Maltese.
One alleged ‘illegal bird trap’ reported by Packham and BLM turned out to be an enclosure for holding domestic pigeons. The other reported ‘cage trap’ turned out to be an aviary holding several specimens of birds belonging to various species. But contrary to Chris Packham’s false assertion that the aviaries were ‘emptied’ before WBRU inspectors arrived, the Unit confirmed that all specimens originally reported were found in place and were thoroughly examined to establish legality of possession.
Apparently with little concern for his credibility, Packham furthermore alleged in his interview with The Malta Independent that ‘the Attorney General in Malta had called on the government to place turtle doves as a protected species after their levels dropped, but the WBRU did nothing.’
Nothing could be further from the truth, as WBRU has been instrumental in the development and implementation of a government decision to impose a moratorium on spring hunting of the Turtle Dove, as well as spearheaded major changes to spring and autumn hunting legislation to address Turtle Dove conservation status re-classification.
If Mr Packham and his local associates believe that their self-serving publicity stunts help to raise public awareness to mobilise the society towards eradication of illegal killing of birds, they are grossly mistaken, as actions of this nature only serve to fuel division, polarisation and antagonism amongst stakeholders instrumental for the eradication of wildlife crime phenomenon.”