Birds dodge Malta massacre

VALLETTA - Many more spring migrant birds may soon be able to get through to nest in European countries because curbs are at last coming on one of the biggest dangers they face on their journey from Africa - massacre in Malta.

Restrictions are being imposed on the annual shoot of wild birds on the small Mediterranean island.

Some of the estimates of birds killed annually by thousands of Maltese shotgun hunters include 200,000 to 300,000 song thrushes; 100,000 to 200,000 turtle doves; 50,000 to 100,000 robins; 20,000 to 50,000 skylarks; 40,000 swifts, swallows and house martins; 5000 to 8000 nightjars; and 3000 to 5000 marsh harriers.

The full toll is thought to approach two million birds killed annually, while thousands more songbirds, especially finches, are caught by trappers for the caged-birds trade.

The vast decimation of migratory flocks has provoked great anger and opposition in much of Europe.

It is very likely, for example, that the plunge in numbers in turtle doves nesting in Europe is directly linked to over-hunting on their migration routes.

The Maltese have always claimed that their bird slaughter is a national tradition. With 12,500 registered hunters (plus another 4300 trappers) in a population of 400,000, there is a powerful hunting lobby.

Now, however, the European Union is making a difference. When Malta joined two years ago, it was at once set on a collision course with the 1979 Birds Directive, which gives many bird species protection.

And the EU Commission has increased the pressure on the island to conform. Last week, faced with an imminent threat of being taken to court by the commission, the Government issued its Conservation of Wild Birds Regulations, 2006, to give the EU Directive force in Maltese law.

In future, Malta will have to shorten the season for several species of wild birds and may have to scrap the spring hunt of birds such as the turtle dove and quail.

- INDEPENDENT