A British naturalist and TV presenter who last year was arrested for trespassing – and later found not guilty – said today it was bizarre that the European Union had not slammed Malta on its track record with regard to spring hunting.
Christopher Packham said the corruption that surrounds Malta” means the bird lobby in Malta is very powerful, and the government gives in easily to its requests to maintain its support and win election votes.
Speaking in an event in Brussels, hosted by MEP Anja Hazekamp, Packham said many people in Malta are despairing because they do not condone corruption and want to be like other 21st century European countries.
Packham said “400 million birds have been robbed from us, 90 million in the UK, since the 1970s”, adding that in order for humans to survive in a sustainable environment the slaughter of birds must stop.
During the event, a clip was shown in which Packham is seen with an injured turtle-dowve that had been shot in Malta. The presenter spoke emotionally on how this was a bird which was potentially going back to the UK but had been shot. “The blood of this British bird is on my hands but really it’s on the hands of Maltese hunters,” he said.
The British TV presenter also mentioned the frequent shooting of protected birds in Malta, presenting clips showing birds which were found shot on public land. He reminded the audience that due to the trespassing laws in Malta, one can only pick up shot birds which land on public areas. There were 15 such birds picked up in Malta last year, but there were probably hundreds more which fell on private property.
Bird Life Malta representative Nik Barbara explained Malta’s hunting history, emphasising on the introduction of derogations which allowed hunters to shoot at a limited number of birds.
But the responsibility of compiling a list of birds shot fell upon the hunters themselves, which meant that the records kept could be very misleading. One good thing is that the hunting of turtle dove has now become illegal because the species has been declared as highly vulnerable.
Bird life Malta is still however concerned about the situation because the government has decided to open the spring hunting season for three weeks, meaning that in the last week of the season, turtle doves will be in their peak migration season when crossing over Malta.
This could be detrimental to turtle doves, Barbara said, questioning whether there were enough resources to monitor the hunters’ behaviour.
Both Packham and Barbara focused on the lack of enforcement, with Packham referring to Malta’s size being an issue where everyone knows everyone and the police can be friends or even related to people who are hunting illegally.
Barbara also asked if the EU commission has started to question whether the quail numbers being recorded are truly credible.
“In Malta we are lucky enough to have 360 species that migrate over us. Our mission is to make sure that when they pass, they do safely,” Barbara said.