Hunting in Malta under the spotlight in Brussels discussion

A British naturalist and TV presenter who was last year arrested for trespassing – and later found not guilty – said yesterday that it was bizarre that the European Union had not slammed Malta on its track record with regard to spring hunting.

Christopher Packham said that the corruption surrounding Malta meant the bird lobby in the country was very powerful, with the government giving in easily to its requests in order to maintain its support and win election votes.

Speaking at an event in Brussels hosted by MEP Anja Hazekamp, Packham said that many people in Malta were in despair because they did not condone corruption and wanted to be like any other 21st century European country.

Packham said: “Four hundred million birds have been robbed from us – 90 million in the UK – since the 1970s,” adding that in order for humans to survive in a sustainable environment, the slaughter of birds must stop.

During the event, a clip was shown in which Packham is seen with an injured turtle dove that had been shot in Malta. The presenter spoke emotionally about the bird, which, he said, could have potentially been heading towards the UK before it was shot. “The blood of this British bird is on my hands, but really it’s on the hands of Maltese hunters,” he said.

The British TV presenter also mentioned the frequent shooting of protected birds in Malta, presenting clips showing birds found shot on public land. He reminded the audience that due to Maltese trespassing laws one could only pick up shot birds on public land.

There were 15 such birds picked up in Malta last year, but there were probably hundreds more which fell on private property.

Bird Life Malta representative Nik Barbara explained Malta’s hunting history, emphasising the introduction of derogations which allowed hunters to shoot at a limited number of birds.

But the responsibility of compiling a list of shot birds fell upon the hunters themselves, which meant that the records kept could be very misleading. One good thing, he said, was that the hunting of turtle dove had been made illegal as a result of the bird being declared highly vulnerable.

Bird life Malta is still concerned about the situation, however, because the government has decided to open the spring hunting season for three weeks, meaning that in the last week of the season, turtle doves will be in their peak migration season when crossing over Malta.

This could be detrimental to turtle doves, Barbara said, questioning whether there were enough resources to monitor the hunters’ behaviour.

Both Packham and Barbara focused on the lack of enforcement, with Packham referring to Malta’s size being an issue, as everyone knows everyone and the police could be friends or even related to those hunting illegally.

Barbara also asked if the European Commission had started to question whether the quail numbers being recorded were truly credible.

“In Malta we are lucky enough to have 360 species migrating over us. Our mission is to make sure that when they pass, they do safely,” Barbara said.