Bird lovers complain to EC

January 18, 2004

About 850 bird-lovers have written to the European Commission complaining

about the hunting situation in Malta, according to an international bird ha=

bitat

organisation.

David Conlin of Proact International said that individuals from 62 countrie=

s -

ranging from Cameroon to Norway to the US - had written to EU

Commissioners following the disappearance of two rare birds in Malta last

week.

According to BirdLife Malta, unknown persons gained access to the Ghadira

Nature Reserve by cutting through a boundary wall and crossed a ditch

before killing and removing two spoonbills.

The incident sparked anger from different sectors, and though the culprits =

have not been caught, several conservationists have pointed their guns in t=

he

direction of hunters.

Mr Conlin's organisation has been actively campaigning about what it deems =

to be the indiscriminate hunting situation in Malta.

In a letter to The Times last week, he described the spoonbills incident as=

an

" ugly foretaste to yet another bloody spring in Malta. "

Following the incident he mobilised his organisation's members to write to =

Enlargement Commissioner Günter Verheugen and Environment

Commissioner Margot Wallström to contest Malta's hunters.

He told The Sunday Times that his campaign had the backing of several other=

organisations namely: the Italian League for Bird Protection, the Belgian

Ornithological Society, Birdtours Ltd UK, SEO/BirdLife Delta del Llobregat =

of

Spain, Filey Bird Observatory, Bardsey Island Nature Reserve Wales, the

Connaissance & Protection de la Nature du Brabant of Belgium, and Working

Group Spoonbills International.

The Federation for Hunting and Conservation last week also wrote to the EU =

Environment Commissioner, saying no proof had yet emerged that the culprits=

were hunters, or that the protected birds were actually killed.

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