If the hunting season is “for some hunters an open invitation to illegally shoot birds of prey”, the sensible fair solution is to prosecute these so-called hunters, said a statement issued by hunters’ group Kumitat San Umbertu (KSU). To suggest that a spring hunting season should not be opened because of illegalities is equivalent to suggesting that hunting seasons should never be opened because of possible illegalities, it said adding that CABS kept repeating an argument that was thrashed many times.

It went on that without offering an explanation, strangely CABS found a derogation from the Birds Directive to be “legally very questionable”. But the legal experts agree that the 10 September 2010 ruling of the European Court of Justice covers any such action of the Maltese government.

It has been reported that the German anti-hunting CABS is sending eight ‘bird guards’ to monitor the hunting situation in April.

CABS seem concerned that turtle-doves and quails have “greatly declined in Germany”. Seeing in this a good excuse for a working-holiday in Malta, the German organisation is not bothered to look first into the cause(s) of the decline of the species in their own country. To imply that this is due to Maltese spring-hunting is a false assumption that has no basis in reality.

France has a high population of turtle-doves and 1,344,000 hunters, one of the highest numbers in the EU. Most of the turtle-doves breeding in France, pass winter in western Africa, particularly in Senegal, where they are subjected to heavy shooting throughout the winter months. In spite of this intense persecution, far from declining, the large turtle-dove population in France is on the increase (BirdLife International – 2004). In Germany the species is protected. Therefore, there the cause of the decline of the turtle-dove in that country must be due to other factors unconnected with hunting.

The quail (Coturnix coturnix) is a prolific breeder whose secretive habits make it extremely difficult to arrive at a precise estimate of its populations. The species underwent a decline in the 1970s and 1980s mainly due to changes in agricultural practices. In recent years, however, its populations have reached stable levels, and in Southern Europe it is on the increase (EU Management Plan for Quail 2009-2011). Both the turtledove and the quail are listed under the taxon Least Concern by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).