Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1237083
Poachers using quail season as smokescreen, BirdLife tells Brussels MATTHEW AGIUS BIRDLIFE yesterday said it had retrieved the first confirmed il- legally-shot turtle dove, despite hunters only allowed to shoot at quail. The NGO slammed the open- ing of the season as a smoke- screen to kill the turtle dove, which reaches peak migration towards the end of April when the spring season ends. The turtle dove is a vulnerable spe- cies. BirdLife wrote to European Commissioner for the Envi- ronment Virginijus Sinkeviči- us asking for action to be tak- en against the violation of the EU Birds Directive, which bans spring hunting but which Mal- ta derogates from. "In the past days we've re- ceived another four illegal- ly shot protected birds, apart from the turtle dove, raising the total of illegal hunting casualties since the start of the spring hunting season seven days ago to 10 known illegally hunted protected birds. This is now more than one bird per day," BirdLife CEO Mark Sul- tana said. The decision to allow a spring season for 5,000 quail is based the government's declaration that the number of quail caught in autumn 2019 was small. BirdLife insists that from the over 10,000 hunters registered that season, only 294 declared catching any of the 40 different bird species over the course of the five-month season. "The data on which the Mal- tese government is trying to justify the spring hunting sea- son is no data at all. It is high time the European Commis- sion stops the Maltese govern- ment from taking it for a ride and takes a clear stance that it will not tolerate such flouting of European law," Sultana said. In the past days another four illegally shot protected birds were retrieved by BirdLife Mal- ta, namely two Marsh Harri- ers, a Little Egret and an Ital- ian-ringed Yellow-legged Gull hatched in Sicily last year. All these were certified by the gov- ernment veterinary as having been shot, raising the total of illegal hunting casualties since the start of the spring hunting season seven days ago to 10 known illegally hunted pro- tected birds. BirdLife Malta Head of Con- servation Nicholas Barbara said: "This year we are expe- riencing a drastic increase in shot protected birds being found by members of the pub- lic – these being an indication of the scale of illegal killing of birds caused by the hunting community. Comparing the last three years from 1 Janu- ary to date this indicates an increasing trend, which in- creases even further once we have an open hunting season coinciding with the migration of protected birds. One also needs to keep in mind that the birds retrieved are only the tip of the iceberg, since many oth- er birds are shot at but are nev- er recovered". BirdLife called on the general public to continue monitoring and reporting illegalities and to join them in stopping hunting season abuse. magius@mediatoday.com.mt 16 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 19 APRIL 2020 NEWS One of the shot turtle doves: the protected species cannot be hunted in the spring season