Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1238298
2 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 22 APRIL 2020 NEWS MATTHEW VELLA BIRDLIFE Malta has claimed that thousands of turtle-doves have been illegally shot over Malta and Gozo in the last days, with the weather conditions pushing birds over the islands. The conservationists released footage from Monday and Sun- day, where particularly good days for migration saw single birds and up to flocks of six being indiscriminately targeted by hunters as if it were an open season. Footage taken by BirdLife shows two hunters shooting and killing the vulnerable spe- cies, while another five shot tur- tle-doves were recovered in the space of two days. Two of the five turtle-doves found shot originate from the Federation for Hunting and Conservation (FKNK) claimed land of Miżieb, with BirdLife Malta staff finding a live in- jured turtle-dove on Sunday afternoon, followed by another injured dove found by the Com- mittee Against Bird Slaughter (CABS) from the woodland on Monday. "Miżieb accordingly remains a mecca of illegalities where in the past a number of shot protected birds have been found at times buried under rocks," BirdLife CEO Mark Sultana said. Sunday's barrage of shots were heard from across the islands, with several complaints were lodged on social media from members of the public reporting heavy shooting from as early as 4:30am till midday on Monday. With the exceptional numbers of turtle-doves seen migrating till late morning, BirdLife said it had reason to believe that such shots were in their majority targeting turtle-doves and not quail, for which the spring hunting season is supposedly open for. BirdLife has also received sev- eral other shot protected birds including birds of prey, herons, Golden Orioles, Hoopoes and Bee-eaters indicating such spe- cies were also being illegally tar- geted during the open season. In contrast, a request filed yesterday by BirdLife, asking the Wild Birds Regulation Unit (WBRU) and the Minister for the Environment Aaron Farru- gia to provide the numbers of Quail declared caught by hunt- ers so far, remained unanswered. "It is clear that the government is in collusion with the hunting lobby to hide these atrocities," BirdLife Malta CEO Mark Sul- tana said. "The hunting lobby and its members are feeling they can get away with anything right now since the Prime Minister and his Cabinet are bending backwards to give the lobby all they desire including hunting the vulnerable turtle-dove. "It is opportune to recall that when previous Prime Minister Joseph Muscat took a stance and stopped spring hunting short due to illegalities in 2015, we had the lowest year of shot protected birds retrieved. It seems that with Dr Robert Ab- ela at the helm, this year will be having a record number of shot protected birds. He should be ashamed." BirdLife Malta Head of Con- servation Nicholas Barbara stat- ed: "We haven't seen such ram- pant illegalities in ages. Since the start of the year 44 shot birds have arrived to the attention of veterinarians after being found shot and injured by members of the public. Half of these birds arrived since the opening of the spring hunting season on the 10th of April, with no less than 12 illegally shot protected birds received since last Saturday. This is all happening under the guise of a spring hunting dero- gation to the EU Birds Directive – an exception to the rule Malta should be held accountable for. We will be assisting the Europe- an Commission to stop this once and for all." Hunters flout turtle-dove ban, BirdLife footage shows A shot turtle-dove found in Burmarrad CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Although the number of daily new cases in Malta has been on the low side for a few days and the number of recovered patients has been increasing, Public Health Superin- tendent Charmaine Gauci has been warn- ing of undetected community spread. "The behaviour of the pandemic over the next 10 days will be crucial for the govern- ment to decide on an exit strategy but it will be a very slow return to normality," the sources warned. Some European countries like Germany, Denmark and Austria have started lifting some of the lockdown measures introduced over the past month to curb the spread of COVID-19 but are doing so with caution. Even some of the worst-hit countries like Spain, have loosened some of the work-re- lated restrictions. Health Minister Chris Fearne said last week that some of the restrictions may start being lifted in "the coming weeks". Howev- er, he did not give a timeline and was very cautious. He insisted that lifting of measures would happen gradually and if the virus spread re- emerged strongly the restrictions would be re-introduced. Malta shut all travel to and from the is- land, closed its schools, ordered non-es- sential shops and services to shutter up, and banned public gatherings of more than three people. The elderly and those with medical conditions that make them vulner- able have also been instructed to stay in- doors and venture out only for necessities. A MaltaToday analysis of the daily num- ber of new cases averaged out over a sev- en-day period (this is done to smooth the extremely low and high numbers and is known as the 7-day moving average) shows that the average number of daily cases yes- terday stood at 7.1. This means that the daily average has fall- en below what it was on 1 April when the number stood at 8.7. The analysis showed that the 7-day aver- age peaked on 11 April with 22.4 cases and has been dropping since then at a sustained pace. The largest number of cases in one single day was recorded on 7 April when 52 peo- ple tested positive for COVID-19. There were 12 new cases yesterday, bring- ing the total number since the pandemic started on 7 March to 443. The total includes three deaths and 150 people who have fully recovered from the virus. COVID-19 restrictions have stifled world economies, causing financial hardship to families and businesses. Lifting the measures is a deli- cate balancing act between re-igniting economies and protecting people's health. The World Health Organisation's re- gional office in Eu- rope last week urged countries to ensure they are able to satisfy six criteria before start- ing a gradual lifting of so- cial distancing restrictions. Countries will have to be able to demonstrate an ability to identify and isolate suspect COVID-19 cases immediately and monitor close contacts. They will also have to ensure their health systems are able to cope with COVID-19 cases while providing other routine med- ical care services that may have been crowded out because of the focus on the pandemic. Another aspect that will have to be con- sidered during the transition is the ability of countries to continue to protect vulnerable people, especially those living in homes for the elderly. The transition will also have to see the contin- ued implementation of social distancing and personal hygiene measures at work- places, the proper management of im- portation channels and the continuous engagement with com- munities. WHO senior advisor Na- tasha Azzopardi Muscat had warned the transition could not be a one-size-fits-all approach and every step to lift restrictions will have to be monitored. "This is not a one-way street… we may have to evaluate and re-evaluate strategies. This is not going back to normal but mov- ing forward into a new normal," she had cautioned. Some EU countries lifting COVID-19 restrictions Chris Fearne