News
Saturday, 30 January 2010
Illegal Hunting in Malta
Every spring and autumn, Malta becomes a vital stepping stone for birds using this migratory route to move between European breeding and African wintering grounds and the islands act as a place to rest and regain fat supplies before continuing on these long and taxing journeys. Malta also has an exceptionally high density of hunters. According to the latest official figures Malta had 11,929 registered hunters and 4,616 licensed trappers.
Perhaps due to this very high density of hunters, combined with a lack of law enforcement and environmental education, illegal hunting is a widespread and serious problem, with poachers specifically targeting raptors (birds of prey) and herons as well as rare migratory birds such as greater flamingo, black stork and Eurasian spoonbill among others. This persecution reaches its peak during migration periods, when large numbers of raptors, herons and other protected species are killed by poachers.
An international petition against illegal hunting in Malta initiated by BirdLife recently has received over 22,000 signatures in just one week.
The international campaign is aimed at Maltese Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi and demands that all hunting legislation is fully enforced and spring hunting is no longer permitted in Malta.
"Although the BirdLife partnership is primarily targeting its members with this petition and it has been only a week since we launched it, support is pouring in from all corners of the world. Moreover, opinion polls in Malta have shown that the overwhelming majority is strongly against the illegal killing of migratory birds and the unsustainable practice of spring hunting." said Joseph Mangion, BirdLife Malta President.
BirdLife Malta stated that it had submitted a detailed report on how to deal with illegal hunting to the Office of the Prime Minister in 2008. To date, BirdLife has not received any feedback on the report. The organisation will be resubmitting the proposal to the OPM in the coming days.
For further information about the sterling work done by Birdlife Malta and to sign the petition go to the link.