With 99 illegal hunting casualties retrieved by BirdLife Malta and police last year, 2019 was the second worst year in the past seven years for illegal hunting, Birdlife Malta said yesterday.

The autumn hunting season closed on Friday, the group said, adding that the hunting and trapping situation remains in limbo following the illegal move in the ministerial portfolio over which BirdLife Malta has taken legal action against the Government.

It had been running for five months, since the 1st of September of last year. “The same period was also characterised by a trapping season extended by 10 days which the Government still needs to justify to the European Commission.”

The trapping season closed on 10 January. It had been running since the 20th of October. "The hunting and trapping seasons were characterised by an Administrative Law Enforcement (ALE) Police unit at its lowest-ever capacity in recent years, with zero backup from the Specialist Enforcement Branch within the Wild Birds Regulation Unit (WBRU)," Birdlife Malta said.

“The unit has ended up with zero staff assigned to it following various resignations in the past years. This has led to a nonchalant attitude by the Government towards illegalities.”

Birdlife Malta said there were several episodes of protected birds being killed – from the initial massacre of Greater Flamingos in August before the season opened, to the shooting of a flock of rare Short-toed Eagles in November, with all birds believed to have been shot dead.

99 illegal hunting casualties retrieved by BirdLife Malta and police last year, make 2019 the second worst year in the past seven (since 2013) for illegal hunting. “These numbers only represent the tip of the iceberg since many other shot birds are never found or end up in taxidermy collections.”

It also cited “widespread and unregulated” use of electronic bird callers which led BirdLife Malta to launch the #NoMoreCallers public campaign to collect the necessary information about this illegal abuse so that following an analysis of the situation, action can be taken. “In a month and a half we received nearly 400 reports from the public, an average of eight a day.”

“Uncontrolled trapping of song birds which should be illegal following the landmark European Court of Justice judgement delivered two years ago transformed this year’s season into yet another smokescreen for the illegal trapping of song birds and putting Malta at risk of facing an escalation of the open Infringement Proceedings which the European Union has already put in place over the Song Thrush and Golden Plover trapping derogation,” Birdlife continued.

It also said the game reporting system failed, with the authorities failing to have any form of control over legally hunted or trapped birds. “Following the 2018 Game Reporting Data Report from WBRU including results from only 9% of hunters and trappers who bothered reporting any catches, this year’s trapping season miraculously reached the season’s quota of 700 trapped Golden Plover at the last few hours of the last day.”

Despite all this, the Government continues to ignore the proposal for the setting up of a Wildlife Crime Unit which enjoys the unanimous backing of all the members of the Ornis Committee. More than a year has passed since the official recommendation was sent to the Hon. Clint Camilleri – at the time Parliamentary Secretary – in November 2018, the group said.

"In the present situation of a closed season, amid legal uncertainty on how hunting and trapping shall be regulated, and enforcement capabilities stretched to their limits, support from the public and environmental NGOs remains crucial.”

BirdLife Malta thanked the public for their collaboration in the past months, particularly in regard to the strong response to its campaign against the illegal use of bird callers.

“All the information gathered will now be compiled into a report which will be sent to the European Commission. We would also like to thank the general public for their support during the hunting season. In the past five months we collected over 50 illegally shot protected birds, of which 17 were admitted into rehabilitation and successfully released back into the wild. Such results are only possible thanks to public support."

"At the same time, however, we appeal to the public to remain vigilant to any illegality they may encounter during the closed season. Illegalities should be reported immediately to ALE Police on 119 and to BirdLife Malta on 2134 7645/6 (office hours) or 7925 5697 (emergency number)."