BirdLife Malta said yesterday that a Pallid Harrier, an extremely rare wild bird, was shot in the south of the island early yesterday morning. The adult male Pallid Harrier was brought to the BirdLife office by a concerned citizen. The organisation also received photographs of a dead Purple Heron, another protected species, from British tourists who were visiting Gozo last weekend.

The Pallid Harrier is an endangered species with a population estimated at between 310 to 1,200 breeding pairs left in the whole of Europe. If the breeding population of this very rare species in Russia is excluded, the population estimate for the rest of Europe amounts to between only five and 51 pairs. Furthermore, over the last seven years this species has become extinct in two of the six remaining countries in which it breeds in Europe.

BirdLife Malta conservation manager Andre Raine said: “The Pallid Harrier, which is protected by both EU and Maltese law, had gunshot wounds to both wings and the chest, with one wing so badly wounded that bones could be seen sticking out of the wound.

“Due to the fact that this very rare bird had the misfortune to fly over Malta to reach its breeding grounds in Europe, there will unfortunately be one less breeding Pallid Harrier in Europe this year. With most of the populations of this endangered species in Europe down to only a handful of birds, the actions of a single Maltese hunter could have a dramatic effect on the future of this species,” Dr Raine concluded.

In the second case, photographs of the Purple Heron were sent to BirdLife Malta by British tourists who had been visiting Gozo at the weekend. They wrote that they discovered the body of a Purple Heron while walking with their children at Mgarr-ix-Xini in Gozo. The bird, which had been freshly killed, was found with half of its beak blown off.