Shooting of protected species on Malta
Large, colourful and rare bird species are still frequently targeted by poachers in Malta today. Particularly affected are birds of prey, storks, flamingos and herons.
Malta has an old tradition of hunting birds of prey. In the middle of the 20th century tens of thousands of buzzards, falcons, harriers and eagles were shot on the small archipelago each year. Pictures of hunters with mountains of shot raptors document the shocking extent of this cruel hobby. As a rule, the birds were not used - it was mainly about "hunting pleasure". This bird of prey hunt developed into a trophy hunt that still drives many hunters on Malta today. The birds are stuffed and land in taxidermy collections. Fanatical collectors have not only males and females as specimens of each species, but also juveniles and different colour variants. Hundreds of thousands of protected birds are in the hands of private trophy collectors on Malta.
As soon as birds from the coveted species groups are expected on the island, the poachers - who often have a valid hunting license - mingle with the regular hunters. In closed social media groups or via radio, the perpetrators communicate with each other to unveil locations of incoming species and roosting places of passing birds. In the protection of the darkness or hidden and in inaccessible coastal-areas, they lurk in order to take shot at the rarities.
Since the start of our bird protection camps in 2001, the situation has noticeably improved. Today, large flocks of honey buzzards and marsh harriers can fly over the island largely undisturbed. But as soon as rare species such as white or black storks, Egyptian vultures, short-toed and lesser spotted eagles, red-footed falcons, pallid harriers, flamingos, purple herons or rollers arrive, the poachers are out in force. Even with police protection, the perpetrators repeatedly succeed in killing the birds as they try to pass Malta and Gozo.
During our bird protection camps on Malta, we therefore dedicate our efforts to deploy teams to track and follow the rare migrant species and monitor the hotspot areas and roosting sites affected by poaching.