Birdlife Malta has announce today that bird-watchers and conservationists fear for the fate of a male Peregrine Falcon (also known as the Maltese Falcon) residing in Gozo, after an “organised illegal hunting attempt from land and sea was witnessed at Ta’ Cenc cliffs in Gozo last Saturday.”
BLM said that during an evening boat trip attended by 120 BirdLife Malta members to watch rafting Cory’s Shearwaters off Ta’ Cenc, “attendees were alerted by shots fired from the cliffs. Witnesses saw three men with a shotgun in a speedboat below Ta’ Cenc cliffs who appeared to be coordinating with another two men on the cliffs, one of whom was also armed with a shotgun.”
BirdLife members reported the illegal hunting incident to the Armed Forces of Malta, who arrived with a patrol boat within five minutes. The poachers fled the scene at great speed heading towards Xlendi as soon as the AFM vessel was seen approaching.
BLM said that “the targeted falcon is one of a resident pair that had been seen regularly at Ta’ Cenc until May of this year when the female of the pair was reportedly killed by illegal hunters. It is now feared that the male falcon has also been killed.”
The Peregrine Falcon, Falco peregrinus brookei, became synonymous with Malta in 1530, when the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V ceded the islands to the Knights of St. John in exchange for one Maltese Falcon per year.
The Peregrine Falcon was a regular breeder in Malta, until the last pair was killed by hunters in the 1980?s. Since then Peregrine Falcons have only made sporadic appearances along the more remote cliffs of the Maltese Islands.
“When the incentive to kill a unique specimen like the Peregrine Falcon outweighs the penalties faced in court, hunters go to the extremes of organised crime. It is evident that the alleged efforts of the government to clamp down on illegal hunting are failing, with birds such as the Maltese Falcon being prevented from making a comeback due to illegal shooting,” said Nicholas Barbara, BirdLife Malta Conservation Manager.
The Peregrine Falcon, also known as the Maltese Falcon, used to breed regularly
in the Maltese Islands until the last pair were shot in the 80s.
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I’m frankly astonished that this pair managed to hold out for so long given the level of criminality among the hunting mafia on Malta.
Editor’s Comment. Jimmy we can understand your frustration, but please remember this is happening throughout England’s uplands all the time, it’s no different in our own back yard. There are no longer any breeding hen harriers anywhere in the uplands of England, because they have all been shot, so lets not get too upset at what has happened in Malta.
Fortunately 1 pair with 4 young but if they travel onto a Red Grouse moor you know what will happen. Interestingly enough Gozo where these peregrines were shot has just started a ‘make holidays greener’ supported by the British charity ‘The travel Foundation’ to try and encourage more tourists to the island. What better way to make the island greener than to encourage its wildlife for the tourists to look at. I think people should write to the Travel Foundation and complain – [email protected]
Should we also write to Steve Murphy and ask him what the f*** he’s doing?
Editor’s Comment.The important question here for each of use to consider, what will Steve Murphy write within his long awaited PhD about estates and their gamekeepers who have certainly been the cause of the loss of hen harriers on moorlands throughout England’s uplands? There will be no getting away from this significant fact and what he has to say will either bring credit to his work or it will undermine it completely. For now lets give Mr Murphy the benefit of any doubts we may have.
Thats all well and good, but does Mr Murphy still have Tea and Biscuits with estate gamekeepers??? And if so, what on earth do they chat about? Certainly not the Hen Harrier recovery project, because as the world now knows this Natural England project has failed miserably, just like their failed prosecution of the Walshaw Moor Estate. Instead of wasting an estimated £3m of tax payer’s money on this prosection that went nowhere, because someone at NE mishandled this important matter, the money could have been better spent towards hen harrier protection.