The Committee Against Bird Slaughter in a statement this afternoon says that it “has emphatically welcomed the announcement by Parliamentary Secretary Roderick Galdes that more than 100 police officers, including mounted patrols, will be deployed to combat poaching this autumn.”
CABS President Heinz Schwarze comments, “we are delighted to hear that the ALE are at last being reinforced and will now hopefully also be capable of more proactive action against poaching.”
In this connection the organisation praised the professional work of the ALE and the Gozo police, which led to the arrest of Flamingo killers earlier in the week.
CABS announced for their part that Operation Bon Voyage will begin next Friday, the 13th of September. This autumn more than 40 volunteers from 9 countries will take part in the camps on both Malta and Gozo.
“The main aim of the CABS teams is, through a permanent visible presence at important roost sites and on migration corridors, to deter the shooting down of protected migrating bird species. In addition, the 40 Bird Guards will search for illegal bird traps, nets and electronic decoy devices and report them to the law enforcement agencies,” CABS said.
The team members, who include a number of professional ornithologists and biologists with considerable field experience in various countries in Central and Southern Europe, said that they welcome contact with members of the public “and are always ready to discuss, or give advice on, birding or environmental matters.”
“The operation will continue until the end of September and will be conducted in close cooperation with BirdLife Malta and the Malta Police Force.
The CABS teams on Gozo will be supported by members of the German Foundation Pro Biodiversity (SPA), which is also supporting the camp with a significant financial contribution,” CABS concluded.
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