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CABS, the Committee Against Bird Slaughter, said it has recorded a total of 207 hunting contraventions since the 9th September.

It said in a statement that some of these contraventions were recorded on video.
In a statement CABS said that the offences included 29 direct shooting or hits on protected bird species, some of these contraventions were also recorded on video.

Furthermore a total of 27 protected birds were found dead or observed in flight with obvious shotgun injuries, these included a Lesser Spotted Eagle as well as Marsh Harriers, Honey Buzzards, Kestrels, Bee-eaters, Barn Swallows and Swifts and Finches. Other offences included the use of automatic weapons and electronic bird lures, illegal trapping and flouting of the afternoon hunting curfew.

CABS added that these statistics did not include the 12 protected birds found on the 14th September in a five-metre ditch on the Dwejra Lines where a CABS team had observed two men shooting at Bee-eaters, Barn Swallows and other small birds four days earlier.

Committee spokesman Axel Hirschfeld said that “The men responsible for this massacre were identified by the police from video material provided by us. It shows two individuals who have come to the attention of the police previously in connection with illegal hunting. Both of them have admitted shooting the Bee-eaters at this place and time and will now have to reckon with criminal proceedings being taken against them.”

The Committee added that another serious incident took place last Sunday in the fields between Fiddien and Mtahleb, where some 80 Marsh Harriers had come to roost shortly before dusk. This was witnessed by a BirdLife standing patrol on watch at the site.

Furthermore BirdLife alerted a stand-by CABS team which scanned the area with a thermo-camera; five people were located huddled in a darkened vehicle parked on a track adjacent to the harriers. The video material was then handed over to the Rabat police who called in the owner of the vehicle for assistance in their enquiries.