As regular CFZ-watchers will know, for some time Corinna has been doing a column for Animals & Men and a regular segment on On The Track... particularly about out-of-place birds and rare vagrants. There seem to be more and more bird stories from all over the world hitting the news these days so, to make room for them all - and to give them all equal and worthy coverage - she has set up this new blog to cover all things feathery and Fortean.

Tuesday 20 August 2013

Autumn’s first migrating protected birds shot at – BirdLife

Some of this autumn’s first migrating birds have already been shot at and killed by illegal hunters in four different locations around Malta over the past two days, BirdLife Malta said in a statement this afternoon.

BLM said that “yesterday, a member of the public reported seeing an early migrating Marsh Harrier, one of the first seen this season, being shot three times by a man at Zonqor Point in Marsascala. The man was then seen collecting the shot bird and walking off with it.”

“Then, this morning, a flock of herons was seen, again in Marsascala, and again a member of public reported that shots were fired at the birds as they passed. Later in the day another report of herons being shot at was received, this time from Qawra Point, just next to a popular bathing spot,” BLM said.

BirdLife Malta said that this afternoon it received a Night Heron that had “evidently been hit by shotgun pellets that left a hole in its left wing. The injured heron was immediately taken to a vet, but the wound was so severe that it had to be put down.”

BLM pointed out that “these incidents come just days after the Government announced a four hour roll back of the curfew on hunting during afternoons during the peak migration period in September.”

Nicholas Barbara, Conservation Manager of BirdLife Malta said, “No sooner do migrating birds appear over Malta than they are shot at, proving that more controls to prevent illegal shooting of birds are required, not less.”

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