BirdLife Malta yesterday found three dead birds of prey left in front of the Nadur tower in Dwejra, a location where Raptor Camp volunteers have been going on a daily basis to observe the bird migration since the beginning of the camp.

The team led by André Raine, BirdLife Malta’s Conservation Manager, arrived at the location at 2.10pm and found three dead birds of prey, a Honey Buzzard (Kuccarda), a Lesser Kestrel (Spanjulett Sekond) and a Marsh Harrier (Baghdan Ahmar). All three, which are protected species, were young birds and had visible gunshot wounds on them. The BirdLife team noticed that the Honey Buzzard was cold, probably due to being frozen after it had been illegally shot.

Dr Raine immediately informed the Administrative Law Enforcement Unit and upon the advice given by the ALE the team took the dead protected birds to the Mosta police station. Once there, an official report was filed.

“Since the beginning of the raptor camp the teams located in front of the tower in Dwejra have been verbally harassed by some people on a regular basis. Yesterday our position at the tower was covered with animal manure, with a clear intention to keep our teams away. This final incident with the dead birds of prey gives us a clear idea of the cowardly nature of the people behind these criminal acts,” said Dr Raine.

The foreign and local ornithologists taking part in the Raptor Camp have so far witnessed the killing and shooting of a significant number of protected birds from at least 16 different protected species, including a flamingo that was shot down from a boat on the sea at Gozo. The team located at Dingli this morning also witnessed a Kestrel being shot at but the bird luckily was not hit.

Commenting on the recent incident BirdLife Malta’s Executive Director Tolga Temuge said: “There are criminals out there considering themselves as hunters who have no respect for the law and our common natural heritage. Yet, the FKNK Administration continues to ignore the scale of illegal hunting in Malta and instead appears to regard our foreign guests as targets through their extremely xenophobic statements. It is about time that the law abiding hunters are represented by people who not only respect the national and European conservation laws but also the rights of other people to enjoy the countryside.”