Two hunters were arrested in Miżieb Friday morning following extensive surveillance by BirdLife Malta volunteers, as part of their SpringWatch campaign.

A crew from The Malta Independent on Sunday was on site with Birdlife Malta team at the time.

Through surveillance, volunteers noticed that a hunter was in the area hunting even though his hunting license had been revoked. This specific hunter was caught by volunteers shooting a golden oriole – a protected species – on Wednesday, 17 April. The police were alerted and he was caught red-handed with both the protected bird and a turtle dove. He was subsequently released on bail.

Under the derogation allowing spring hunting, the Wildlife Birds Regulation Unit should have immediately revoked the man’s hunting license; however, BirdLife Malta conservation manager Nik Barbara told The Malta Independent on Sunday that the NGO had been informed by the police that the hunter’s license was revoked on Thursday 25 April – eight days after he was caught with the shot protected species.

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The hunter was first spotted on 24 April – when his license had still not been revoked – but he was then spotted again by volunteers and a team from The Malta Independent on Friday morning.

The man was seen holding a shotgun inside a hunter’s hide – an act which was already illegal due to the fact that his license had been revoked. The police were subsequently called and two policemen, accompanied by a volunteer from BirdLife who could identify the location of the hunter, went to Miżieb.

Meanwhile, volunteers at a vantage point overlooking the area could see the situation unfold; as the police approached the hunter in question, they walked past a second hunter some 100 metres away from the suspect. It was at this point that the hunter in question put his hand up in the general direction of his presumed friend and made a break for it before the police could get to his position.

The hunter, in fact, made his escape with only his shotgun in hand; the police retrieved his bag and his mobile phone from the hide, and from the latter they deduced that the man had been alerted to the presence of law enforcement by the other hunter. 

The second hunter was then questioned by the police and subsequently arrested for tipping off the suspect. The hunter alleged to have been hunting without a license was apprehended a couple of hours later as well.

This was the fruit of a morning’s work for one of BirdLife Malta’s SpringWatch teams.  Set up at strategic vantage points overlooking known hunting hotspots, the volunteers survey the area and the hunters within it to find and expose illegalities.

A crew from The Malta Independent joined one of these teams on Friday morning and bore witness to the hunter’s escape and the other hunter’s arrest.

The spring hunting season opened on 10 April with quail being the only species allowed to be hunted. However, with the season running till 30 April, BirdLife Malta argues that the season has been purposely lined up with the migratory season for turtle dove, which is now a red-listed species in Europe.

It is thought, in fact, that this is a front for hunters to continue hunting turtle dove as they please. What was observed on Friday gives credence to this suspicion; a number of hunters sitting in their hides, seemingly waiting for birds to cross their path. This is not the technique generally used for hunting quail, BirdLife Malta SpringWatch volunteer Bob Hook explains. To hunt quail, he says, a hunter would have to work an area of grassland and use a dog or two to flush out the quail and then shoot the bird, which is legal. A turtle dove, however, requires no such flushing out and hunters simply wait for the bird to come to them.

With this in mind, the volunteers, in teams of between two and four, go to particular areas around Malta to monitor hunters and see whether they are shooting species which they are not supposed to be.

Bob’s team may have been happy to report news of the two arrests, but another team stationed at Wied Dalam in Ħal-Għaxaq had no such luck; they returned to the NGO’s base in St Paul’s Bay with a shot turtle dove.

The total number of illegally shot protected birds so far this year has reached 31.

“Over the past two days – as we anticipated – the migration of turtle dove has reached its peak, and we are seeing that there is a lot of shooting in the morning; repetitive shooting from trees rather than open fields, where it is obvious that turtle doves are the target – the illegal hunting of turtle dove blatant,” Barbara explains.

Illegal hunting is a reality that BirdLife Malta volunteers face every day; but they continue to put their time into this cause out of a love for birds and for the environment as a whole. Their work continues, as always.