BirdLife Malta is urging the Prime Minister to take a decision on the autumn hunting season after a protected bird, a buzzard, was shot down and found by two students at St. Edward’s College.
The incident is similar to that of April 2015, where another protected bird was found, prompting the Prime Minister to close the spring hunting season of the time.
In total, 26 protected birds have been illegally shot so far during this hunting season. When compared with this time last year, only five protected birds had been reported as being illegally shot. Over the last 24 hours, a flamingo was shot – making it the third this season , the honey buzzard found at St Edward’s and lastly a Eurasian Hobby.
Two students from St. Edward’s college, who were playing a game in the gardens just across from the school’s running track, heard a sound of something moving, and immediately thought it was a cat. The boys were at school in the evening because of a weekend live-in that was organised.
They said that upon shining a flashlight to see exactly what was moving, they noticed that it was an injured bird and that it had panicked due to the light being shone. One of the boys, Seb, spoke of approaching the bird which had calmed down after the light was switched off.
They removed their t-shirts in order to handle it with care, covered its eyes gently so as not to frighten it, and took it to their headmaster in order for the right authorities to be called for assistance.
Considering the closure of the hunting season back in April 2015 due to a protected bird being shot and landing at the same school, right after a referendum of spring hunting, BirdLife Malta called for the Prime Minister to issue a reaction, and take action.
Birdlife Malta President Darryl Grima spoke of a meeting with the Police Commissioner just yesterday, where the NGO was laughed at for calling the current autumn hunting season “a massacre”.
BirdLife Malta CEO Mark Sultana said that at the meeting, the Police Commissioner assured them that the authorities were doing everything they could to curb illegal hunting.
“For me, this is an admission that the government has to intervene, because if we are doing all that we can and we’ve already had 26 known protected birds being shot, then something else needs to happen,” said Sultana.
He commended the police for all their efforts, and promised for BirdLife to continue helping where they can for laws to be followed, however he appealed with the Prime Minister to provide some sort of reaction to last night’s incident.
He asked the Prime Minister to respond not to BirdLife, but to the children.
“Can the Prime Minister please explain to the children what sort of message this sends? Especially, what this means for law enforcement, nature conservation and the rule of law?” Sultana said.
Recently, there was controversy about who has the power to close the hunting season when the Prime Minister said that it is the prerogative of the Ornis Committee to make the recommendation, and then government will take a decision based on that.
Sultana said that since the agenda of Ornis Committee meetings is set by government representatives, this has not taken place.
In the initial comments posted on video earlier in the article, Sultana says that the Ornis Committee is somewhat biased and moves with the political will of government, and there does not seem to be the will to even discuss closing the season.