BirdLife Malta (BLM) recovered a young Black Stork with severe leg injuries from a reservoir near the Prime Minister’s official summer residence in Girgenti yesterday morning, after it was illegally shot by nearby hunters. The bird, part of a small flock that was first seen over Gozo, was illegally targeted. Tragically, another black stork was also reportedly shot in Ta’ Ċenċ, Gozo.
The Black Stork (Ciconia nigra) is a rare visitor to Malta. It is a protected species under Maltese law, afforded the highest protection under Annex 1 of the EU Birds Directive and Annex A of the EU Wildlife Trade Regulations.
“Illegal hunting of these species continues due to high demand resulting from two amnesties on taxidermy bird collections granted in the past, which remain largely unverified to this day,” said BLM’s Head of Conservation, Nick Barbara.
In 1997, the then Labour Government granted the first amnesty, with hunters declaring close to 240,000 taxidermy birds. In 2003, the then Nationalist Government granted another amnesty, with hunters declaring an additional 282,000 taxidermy birds. This brings the total to over half a million taxidermy birds.
The Maltese authorities began a verification process, but it was never completed. As a result, it has never been confirmed if hunters possess the taxidermy birds they declared in these two amnesty lists. Consequently, some hunters claimed to have certain bird species in their collections that they did not actually have, becoming practically a wish-list of birds before their lists were verified. This allowed illegal hunting of protected birds to continue, with this being reignited once more with recent permissions allowing hunters to transfer such wish-lists between them.
The environmental police force is vastly outnumbered by around 10,000 hunters and faces significant challenges operating in Gozo. Furthermore, entities such as the Wild Birds Regulation Unit (WBRU) and the Environment and Resources Authority (ERA) are severely limited in resources, preventing effective verification and monitoring of taxidermy bird collections.
“Our appeals to Prime Minister Dr Robert Abela to take the illegal killing of birds seriously have never been given due importance. This reflects a clear choice by Dr Abela and his Cabinet. The Cabinet is insensitive to these incidents and unconcerned about the Maltese citizens who are deprived of enjoying nature’s beauty, as hunters threaten the government with their votes. The government’s silence on the ongoing illegal bird killings is shameful. This situation reflects poorly on the quality of life in our country,” stated BLM CEO, Mark Sultana.
Read the Maltese version of our press release here.