Even though the concessions that the Maltese Government managed to get from the EU on hunting and trapping in Malta were favourable to the hunters, they still weren’t satisfied. To demonstrate their anger, a number of them decided to defy the law and even went all out to break it. This took place while the police were busy iwith other duties during the election. During this time the police, even though they had limited human resources, were instrumental in saving a large flock of spoonbills and marsh harriers. During April IAR received 57 injured birds; with the exception of three, all the birds were protected species.
After the election the police prosecuted a number of hunters. Amongst the prosecutions were two particular cases - one where three honey buzzards were confiscated alive from a house during a raid and another case where the police confiscated about 20 carcasses from a deep freeze in a hunter’s house. It was alleged that he shot an osprey. IAR (Malta) has already asked for a meeting with the Commissioner of Police and the Minister for environment to discuss this situation.