A court of appeal has converted a prison term into a suspended sentence after it ruled that flamingos are not at risk of extinction.

The Court of Criminal Appeal on Monday revoked a prison sentence handed to a 24-year-old hunter, who was convicted of killing four flamingos in St. Paul’s Bay in 2021.

The court ruled that this incident had a low impact on the ecological balance in the area, noting that a court-appointed expert and the International Union for Conservation of Nature, had both listed the migratory birds in the “least concern” category.

Miguel Zammit who had been sentenced to imprisonment for a year last September, after he was convicted of killing four the protected birds, out of a flock of five, in the Fra Ben area of Qawra.

Mr Justice Neville Camilleri had changed the punishment into a suspended sentence.

The court ruled that it had been confirmed that Zammit had shot and killed the birds.

The remainder of the punishment imposed by the previous court, including Zammit’s lifelong prohibition from holding a hunting licence, remain.

Lawyers Edmund Cuschieri and Alex Miruzzi were counsel to Zammit.