The Prime Minister has signed a new order for the culling of the European Starling, within 200 metres of Luqa airport and 50 metres of the approach lights that indicate the runways, in the interest of air safety.
The culling will now go on till 25 April, 2010, after a first phase of culling was carried out earlier this year in March. The new legal notice states that “no satisfactory solution” was found, in terms of air safety and the threat of a bird strike. As a derogation from the Birds Directive, which prohibits the shooting of birds in sanctuaries such as the airport, the culling is only temporary.
The starlings will be eliminated from the runway areas because of the danger of bird strikes, A bird a collision between a bird and aircraft, usually occurring when the bird hits either the windscreen or gets sucked into the engines.
The government had amended the hunting laws that previously prohibited the shooting of birds inside and around the Malta International Airport and the Gozo Heliport.
European Starlings prefer urban or suburban areas where artificial structures and trees provide nesting and roosting sites – airfields included. A highly gregarious species, starlings tend to gather in huge flocks, forming tight formations in the air, expanding and contracting and changing shape.
In airports such as Kennedy International Airport, falcons are used to scare away ducks, geese and other birds that could collide with plane engines. Falconry is also used at Kennedy International Airport to scare away gulls and other birds.
The starling is listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as a “species of least concern”, meaning they do not qualify as a threatened species.
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