Children hunters post shocking photos on the internet

A child is seen holding a shotgun as he aims and shoots at protected birds, in the company of an adult. These photos (above), taken on Thursday 16 October at around 4:50pm in fields between Rabat and Mosta, reveal the extent of the hunting craze as passed from one generation to the next.
The boy, who looks like a 12-year-old, was observed handling the shotgun and firing it several times at passing Passerines, as a man sat down looking on.
Mosta police were called on site but by the time they reached the area, at around 5:42pm, the man and the boy were preparing to leave in their white four-wheel drive car, with the shotgun already in its case. Two police officers were observed taking notes, but no arrests were made.
A spokesman for BirdLife, who passed on the photos to MaltaToday, said: “Note that here we are talking about several offences: underage handling of a firearm, unlicensed handling of a firearm, shooting at protected species, encouraging and assisting someone to break the law.”
A child whose Hi5 profile says he is a 15-year-old from Mosta and who posts under the name ‘liljun’ writes that he has always been and will remain a hunter.
“What should I do with the birds I trap? Stew them?” he asks in an angry message he left on the group forum.
Another youngster on Hi5 is photographed holding a shotgun. He writes he was “born a hunter, will die one too”. In one of his photos, he appears with a stuffed protected bird (Woodchat Shrike) in the background.

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