In the last 24 hours teams of the Committee Against Bird Slaughter (CABS) witnessed hunters shooting down 4 protected birds. These include a Kestrel killed near Safi at around 7:35 AM this morning, a Honey Buzzard which was shot down in Has-Saptan valley today at around 8:15 AM and a Grey Heron which was blasted out of the sky close to Bidni at 8:23 AM. The case in Bidni was documented on video.

The footage was shown to an ALE patrol which arrived 40 minutes after CABS alerted the Police General Headquarters. The officers conducted a search in the area but did not find either the dead bird or the person who shot it down. “The poacher would have had enough time to hide the bird or to leave the area with his illegal prey”, comments CABS spokesman Axel Hirschfeld. He said that CABS was informed that two of the ALE off-road vehicles used for hunting surveillance are currently not available due to various malfunctions thus decimating the number of ALE patrols in the field by two. 

Yesterday afternoon a CABS team observed a hunter killing a protected Bee-eater on Gozo. After he realised that he was being watched he left the area with a car and shouted insults towards the birdwatchers. CABS have passed on footage showing the face of the poacher as well as the registration number of his car to the police.

CABS also announced that it will pass on the locations of 38 static bird caller installations used for hunting and trapping of Quails, Teals, Song Thrush and several protected wader species to the police today. The devices have been mapped by the NGO during the last nights.