A birdwatcher carrying out fieldwork in Malta was attacked and injured by an illegal trapper close to the Salina Bird Sanctuary. The area is one of the hotspots for illegal trapping and one of the best sites for migrating waders.
The bird watcher, who was recording wader numbers for Birdlife Malta, was punched in the face and suffered a broken tooth and a badly bruised eye. The assault was carried out in front of a police sergeant and three officers from the Qawra Police Station.
The trapper was one of a number of individuals targeting protected species and trapping during the closed season.
A team of fieldworkers witnessed the illegal activity in the morning and at about 8.30 am they contacted police from the wildlife protection unit – the ALE (Administrative Law Enforcement). They then continued to observe the illegal activity from the opposite side of the road. As the ALE was unable to handle the report, police officers from the Qawra police station were detailed to respond immediately. However they didn’t arrive at the scene until nearly four hours later, in spite of the fact that the police station was less than two kilometres away.
When the police arrived the trappers started to hurl verbal abuse at the fieldworkers. The police had to restrain two of the aggressors, but a third one attacked the volunteer who was taken to a police clinic for a medical examination.
The trappers have a long track record of carrying out illegal activity in the area and only days ago one of them was filmed carrying a shotgun and trapping illegally.
In April one of the trappers was arrested by the police after he was filmed by volunteers from Birdlife Malta at the spring bird camp illegally trapping waders at the same site.
In 2009, footage of the same trappers was also passed on to the police after they were seen trapping waders illegally.
BirdLife said that reports of illegal wader trapping continued to increase as wader migration peaked over Malta this month.
During the past few days International Animal Rescue has received reports of illegal trapping from three different sites, namely Marsascala, Delimara, and Bahar ic-Cagħaq area, a short distance from the dolphinarium. However by the time the police arrived the trappers had packed up and gone
Politicians from both political parties in the Malta Parliament continue to ignore this issue, even though there are warnings coming from the EU Commission that the situation isn’t satisfactory.