Heralding the European Commission’s decision to launch legal proceedings against Malta, in the light of the spring hunting of quail and turtledoves, Germany’s Committee against Bird Slaughter has labelled the decision “a great success” for its campaign that has been carried out at EC level.
Labelling the development “a cause for celebration for bird conservationists”, the committee said that the decision by the commission has finally met the demands of conservationists who have, for years, drawn attention to the extensive bird poaching and trapping taking place in Malta.
President of the Bonn-based Committee against Bird Slaughter (CABS) Heinz Schwarze commented: “Spring hunting definitely violates EU bird protection guidelines and has cost the lives of more than two million birds since Malta’s entry into the EU. A ban would mean an enormous victory for bird
conservation.”
CABS, together with the Royal Belgian Society for the Protection of Birds and 14 other organisations, recently handed in a petition with 200,000 signatures to the Petitions Committee of the European Parliament.
The Petitions Committee’s Chair, Martin Libicki, last week published a report after personally visiting Malta in May to gain a first-hand understanding of hunting and poaching activity on the Islands.
His report drew the conclusion that: “the exception permitting spring hunting should not be renewed. There is too much concrete evidence of abuse”.
CABS estimates that, once again, more than a half million migrant passerines, falcons, honey buzzards, herons, quails and turtle doves were shot during the 25 March to 22 May 2006 hunting season.
Mr Schwarze comments that the 27-man “hopelessly undermanned” Maltese environmental police unit (ALE) is, in the opinion of conservationists, not capable of controlling the 17,000-odd registered hunters and trappers in Malta.
He adds: “Malta’s hunters have caused severe damage to the bird world and Malta’s reputation for years. It is now up to the Government of Malta to take the appropriate action.”