By Axel Hirschfeld, CABS chief press and communications officer
With its central location in the Mediterranean Sea, the Maltese archipelago is an important stepping stone for bird migration between Europe and Africa along the so-called Central Flyway. Particularly in bad weather, migrating birds make a stopover on the 360 square kilometre archipelago. The arrival of large flocks of birds to the resting places on Malta and Gozo is a unique natural spectacle, which unfortunately not only inspires nature lovers, but also eager bird trappers and irresponsible hunters. With 35 hunters per square kilometre of land, Malta has the highest density of hunters in the European Union. The few undeveloped patches of countryside are paved with thousands of bird-trapping hides and hunting shelters.
In addition to the permitted hunting of some species, poaching remains a widespread phenomenon. Poachers focus on large, colourful and rare bird species such as protected birds of prey, storks, flamingos and herons. Most of them end up in illegal taxidermy collections or are being sold on the black market where an eagle or stork can be sold for several thousand euros.
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.
The Committee Against Bird Slaughter (CABS) has been active in Malta since 2001. At first there were only one-week missions in spring, we conducted our first bird protection camp in autumn in 2007. Since 2014 we have expanded our anti-poaching operations with missions in March, August, October and November. We now maintain a presence during the whole peak periods of bird migration across six bird protection camps with a length of approximately 12 weeks every year.
Each spring (April) and autumn (September) around 20 participants from all over Europe come together for 3 to 4 weeks on Malta and its small neighbouring island Gozo. In the morning and evening the CABS teams patrol the well-known passage and roosting sites and deter many poachers with our visible presence. Anyone who shoots or traps protected species risks being filmed by us. When crimes are observed, the committee teams call the environmental police (ALE), which regularly patrols the poaching hot spots, and assist the officers in their work.
Over the years CABS and its volunteers have developed a very long and good working relationship with many officers and sergeants working for the unit. Persons convicted of poaching receive heavy fines and often lose their hunting licenses for life, and even risk imprisonment. In cooperation with our partner association Birdlife Malta and the environmental police, we have been able to reduce the number of incidents significantly. This also includes illegal trapping in spring when hundreds of poachers roam the Maltese countryside to catch small birds, mainly with large clap net installations. Every year in March they prime their nets, place their live or electronic decoys and go trapping for linnets, goldfinches, ortolan bunting, short-toed larks and red-throated pipits. Unlike in other Mediterranean countries such as Italy or Lebanon, small birds are not being trapped for the cooking put but for the illegal trade. Keeping live protected birds in aviaries is a popular hobby in Malta and to get rarities for their collection some people pay a fortune.
As most trapping sites are hidden behind high walls and difficult to see CABS charter a small aircraft at the beginning of each trapping season and conduct aerial surveys to record the scale of situation and map out active sites for investigation by our ground teams. The aim is to catch the perpetrators illegally trapping in-situ. The police do seize their gear but as the saying goes: “You can´t take nets to court”. Producing solid video evidence and bringing the poachers to justice is therefore our main objective during these operations.
As soon as we observe bird trappers on an active illegal operated trapping site, the police are immediately informed and the perpetrators filmed. Often the police arrive late or are seen as they arrive in the open countryside and the poachers quickly flee before they are collared. Many trappers also have a network of watchmen who alert them of our presence. However, with covert and long-range surveillance, the men can usually be identified and subsequently brought to justice. In addition to this, CABS experts are also regularly visiting bird markets and are monitoring the internet for offers of protected birds. Thanks to these combined efforts more than 300 bird trappers have been convicted and several thousands of wild caught birds were confiscated and subsequently released since 2015. In addition to this most cases and the connected court proceedings are being intensively covered by the local media who help to ensure that the cases brought to court can serve as a strong deterrence to others.
Since the start of our bird protection camps in 2001, the situation has noticeably improved. CABS data show that the number of incidents involving the shooting of birds of prey has massively decreased. Today, large flocks of honey buzzards and marsh harriers can fly over the island largely undisturbed. However, remote and inaccessible areas in the west and south of Malta as well as some parts of Gozo remain a death trap for protected birds until today. But the main message is: In most parts of Malta and Gozo CABS and its partners succeeded and Honey Buzzards, Harriers & Co. birds can now rest and migrate freely in these safe havens which have been created by the tireless and continuous efforts of CABS and Birdlife Malta.
We hope you enjoy reading the Magazine
Al-Hima-Magazine-Issue-No.-4
