Support the campaign to end the massacre of migratory birds on Malta.
The annual migration of birds between Africa and Europe is one of nature’s most remarkable phenomenon. Many species are en-rooute to our green and pleasant land right now, and we are looking forward to hearing the cookoo’s call and seeing our beautiful feathered friends return to our gardens, fields and hedgerows. The natural hazards such tiny and fragile creatures endure in undertaking the long journey are immense but human intervention on a devastating scale is stacking the odds against their survival.
Background
Malta lies 100 kilometres south of Sicily and is a popular tourist destination. It also lies on the Central Mediterranean Flyway, one of three migration superhighways between Europe and Africa. Millions of birds migrate along this route every year and the Maltese Islands are an important resting place for birds making the long flight across the Mediterranean – the final barrier before they reach mainland Europe.
On 12th April 2014, in Malta, over 10,500 hunters armed with shotguns and occupying large areas of public countryside began one of Europe’s most shameful legalised slaughters of threatened birds at the very time of year when they are making their way north from Africa on their return migration to their breeding grounds throughout Europe.
Since the 1960s, Malta has lost at least three previously breeding bird species as a direct result of persecution by hunters – including the Peregrine Falcon (famously known as the Maltese Falcon).
More recently, in 2013, at least 24 species of protected birds were illegally shot including Cuckoos, Marsh and Pallid Harriers, Kestrels, Ospreys, Purple and Grey Herons, Bee-eaters, Golden Orioles and . . . Barn Swallows – those very birds that should herald the arrival of our summer.
Right now, the spring hunting season in Malta is on, and it continues to be one of the most controversial bird conservation issues in Europe. Ostensibly, only two species – Turtle Dove and Quail – may be shot during this spring hunting season, but in reality many more are targeted under the cover of the ‘legal season’. Rare species are killed and stuffed for illegal private collections, undermining European conservation efforts, while many more common migrants are just used for target practice with their killers not even bothering to confirm their kills or collect the bird they have just shot. Turtle Doves and Quail are themselves vulnerable and declining in Europe, with the Turtle Dove – one of Europe’s most iconic birds, its appearance and sound synonymous with the summer- on the verge of extinction as a breeding bird in several European countries, including UK.
Whilst a large majority of Maltese people oppose spring hunting and want to see migrating birds properly protected, successive Maltese governments have failed to bring illegal bird killing under control and refused to stop unsustainable hunting in spring. Since a ruling by the European Court of Justice in 2009 found Malta guilty of violating the EU Birds Directive by allowing spring hunting in 2004-2007, the European Commission appears to have lost the will to take further action to stop Malta’s abuse of the Birds Directive.
What we can do to support the campaign
Chris Packham and his colleagues, with the support of Birdlife Malta, are currently posting a nightly YouTube video diarising the days events on the island. Their mission is to generate a wider awareness of this heinous practice with frank and factual reports from the frontline.
Chris writes, ” It will not be pretty, the species killed include many UK favourites and rarities and the hunters are infamous for being confrontational and violent. I don’t care, this is not a holiday, it’s an attempt to bring this forgotten issue to a wider public attention and then to offer a couple of ways the viewers can actually do something to effect positive change”.
Nothing is forever except extinction. What is being allowed to happen on Malta is medieval, barbaric and senseless and has no place in society today and quite frankly makes a mockery of wildlife conservation. The daily Youtube reports and more information can be found on Chris’s dedicated website, including ways to support his campaign. We at, Spencer Scott Travel fully endorse his plea to stop this slaughter of our birds.