The Environment Minister of the German state of Brandenburg, Dietmar Woidke, yesterday deplored the recent shooting of an extremely rare Lesser Spotted Eagle over Malta as counteracting the state’s meticulous breeding programme of the endangered species.

He also announced he was to press the German federal government to protest the shooting of the rare bird with the Maltese environment ministry.

Only 30 breeding pairs of the species are found in Brandenburg and 115 pairs of the dwindling species in the whole of Germany.

Mr Woidke commented in Potsdam yesterday, “uncontrolled bird hunting in Malta is countering our efforts to protect the species.”

Brandenburg recently spent EUR1 million (EUR430,000) on conservation efforts, which had seen chicks being taken from nests and hand-reared until old enough to be safely returned to the nest.

The male bird had been found shot in Birzebbuga on Sunday and was handed over to the authorities for treatment. The bird, fortunately, survived the shooting.

Rings found on the bird enabled the authorities to trace it back to the county of Oberhavel, and confirmed it had been successfully reared together with nine others in July.

The bird was migrating from Oberhavel to Africa for the winter season.