Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1496177
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 2 APRIL 2023 OPINION 11 time - is that the IUCN clas- sification system is based on the GLOBAL – not LOCAL – distribution of the species in question. So if the Great- er Flamingo is classified as 'of least concern'... what it actually means is that its populations remain stable, in all the territo- ries – and continents – that the Greater Flamingo 'calls home' (in other words: where that bird actually breeds). By no means does it follow, however, that the same is true for the local (migratory) 'pop- ulation' of Greater Flamingos. And, erm... guess what? That same bird just happens to be defined, in local ornithological parlance, as – wait for it – "RA- RE, and IRREGULAR"! I need hardly add, of course, that it is precisely those two qualities – the 'rarity', and 'irregularity', of its sporadic Spring and Autumn visits – that makes the Greater Flamin- go such an irresistible target for poachers, in the first place. It means they automatically fetch a much higher price, on the illegal taxidermy market. [Note: which may separately explain why Miguel Zammit did not limit himself to bagging only one specimen. Oh, no: he killed four out of a flock of five... and no prizes for guess- ing how many he would have killed, had he not been caught red-handed.) But this only leads me to yet another (rather spectacular, this time) illogicality in the same ruling: namely the judge's argument that, "The fact that these birds were migratory, meant that killing them had a low impact on the ecological balance of the area where the crime took place...." Excuse me, but... WHAT did that judge just say, exactly? Be- cause if I understood correctly: he seems to be implying that there is no connection what- soever, between the number of birds (flamingos, or otherwise) that are shot while migrating over Malta... ... and the number of birds that will ever return to migrate over Malta, in future. For all the world as if those birds were not actually on their way back to their European breeding grounds, from Africa [and vice-versa], in order to... how can I put this nicely?... REPRODUCE! (You know: the 'birds and the bees', and all that...) Sorry, but this is one of those occasions where I feel com- pelled to just put my foot down. No, damn it! It's the clean oth- er way round: the migrato- ry birds that we massacre in Malta each year, are the same birds that would otherwise 'get back home safely', and – in an eggshell – 'BREED'! Therefore, killing them as they fly over Malta, also means 'weakening the genetic stock of the sur- viving breeding populations, of the entire species concerned.' And yes, actually. That DOES have an 'impact' – and a rath- er 'huge' one, at that – on "the ecological balance of the area where the crime took place...." But perhaps the most bizarre anomaly, in all this, is the fact that – by an amazing coinci- dence, just a few days after this particular ruling - the Ornis Committee has just recom- mended the opening of this year's spring hunting season, for two species of bird. The Common Quail (which can legally be shot from April 10 to 30); and the Turtle Dove (legally huntable from April 17 -30). Now: at the risk of repeating around a million articles I've written on this subject, be- fore... this is what the IUCN actually has to say about one of those two 'huntable species': the Turtle Dove. "This species is listed as VUL- NERABLE" – a category that, by the way, is separately de- fined as: "having an unfavour- able conservation status in Europe, because they are con- sidered to be facing A HIGH RISK OF EXTINCTION IN THE WILD [my emphasis]"... And the IUCN goes on to state that: "[The Turtle Dove] has undergone rapid declines in much of its European range. [...] Declines are thought to be driven by a number of factors including loss of foraging and nesting sites, as well as disease, and"... ... you'll never guess what's coming next, will you?... .... "HUNTING ALONG ITS MIGRATION ROUTES!!!" Got that, folks? So in one in- stance, the Maltese law-courts ruled that: "it's OK to kill birds, so long as they are 'not at risk of extinction'..." ... and just a few days later, the Ornis Committee decid- ed that: "It's OK to kill birds... even when they ARE 'at risk of extinction'!!" I mean... what the heck is that, exactly: if not a classic case of, "Heads I win; Tails, you lose?" And honestly, though... what chance of survival can wildlife even possibly hope to have, against such outrageously im- balanced odds? The flamingos shot down by the poacher in 2021 The migratory birds that we massacre in Malta each year, are the same birds that would otherwise 'get back home safely', and – in an eggshell – 'BREED'! Therefore, killing them as they fly over Malta, also means 'weakening the genetic stock of the surviving breeding populations, of the entire species concerned.'