BirdLife Malta has said that two birds look to were shot down today,

Early this morning, BirdLife Malta answered a call to retrieve a GreyHeron (Russett Griż) which found bloodied in the football grounds of De La Salle College.

The protected bird was still alive when found, but died a few moments later.

“As is normally done in such cases the bird was taken to the veterinarian to establish the official cause of death after examining its injuries,” BirdLife Malta wrote on Facebook. The group later confirmed that it was shot. "In a similar case, back in April 2015 a shot protected bird landed in the yard of St Edward’s College in Cottonera (which is very near to today’s site) while the school children were on their break. This had led the Prime Minister to close the hunting season prematurely."

Later on in the day, BirdLife Malta wrote on its Facebook page that they were called to Mġarr ix-Xini in Gozo to retrieve another injured protected bird, this time a Night Heron (Kwakka). The bird was discovered by a 16-year old Xewkija resident while walking in a nearby valley.

“The bird had an injury in one of its wings which evidently shows that it was shot. It was very weak when it was collected by our CEO Mark Sultana and succumbed to its injuries whilst being transported to the vet. This is the second shot bird retrieved in one day.”

BirdLife Malta later noted that the bird had been shot in the wing and in the eye. 

During the past days, BirdLife Malta also recovered two shot Bee-Eaters which were retrieved by members of the public in two separate incidents, one in Għaxaq and the other in Dwejra (Malta).