The Police Force’s Administrative Law Enforcement (ALE) unit has discovered an illegal bird taxidermy operation in Safi, The Malta Independent is informed.

Sources said the police arrested a father and son who are avid hunters and taxidermists and who have had brushes with the law in the past.

Officers were in the area investigating reports of hunting illegalities when they stumbled upon these persons who were fixing fresh bird carcasses, a source explained.

At their property, officers found around 12 bird carcasses, including protected Honey Buzzards (Kuċċard) which all appear to be freshly-killed birds from this season.

The raid was led by inspector Eliot Magro, who was recently transferred to lead the ALE section, the source said. His predecessor, inspector Colin Sheldon, was removed from his responsibilities just at the start of this year’s autumn hunting season and during the peak migration of various protected species, the source continued.

The father and son who were arrested are known to organise hunting ‘tours’ for Maltese hunters in Africa.

Around four years ago, they were taken to court after a number of protected eagles were found at their property for taxidermy purposes.

This newspaper was told that some of the birds found on that occasion were from the previous year’s (2013) infamous massacre, during which many rare and highly-protected eagles, such as Short-toed Eagles and Booted Eagles, were illegally shot down in a shooting spree at Dingli, Buskett, Girgenti, Siġġiewi and Żebbuġ.

 The autumn hunting season is currently underway. Birdlife Malta says it has recorded 20 cases of illegal hunting so far.

Questions sent to the police about the taxidermy bust were not answered by the time of going to print.