Raphael Vassallo
Ten separate attacks on local and international birdwatchers and their property have been reported over the past 10 days alone, as violence spirals out of control in the wake of widespread discontent over this year’s ‘limited’ spring hunting season.
Acts of aggression are aimed primarily at BirdLife Malta (BLM) members and their foreign counterparts, currently in Malta on international spring bird-watching camps, and have ranged from death threats and racist graffiti sprayed on public property, to vandal attacks on vehicles, to the violent physical assault of two BLM members in Dingli earlier this week.
No arrests have to date been in connection with any of these incidents, and BLM officials are still awaiting justice over other analogous incidents, some dating back several years.
Campaign co-ordinator Geoffrey Saliba yesterday urged the authorities to take the situation more seriously.
“Not a single person has to date been brought to justice despite numerous violent attacks on our members over the years,” he told MaltaToday. “This is sending out an unmistakable message to hunters and the population in general, that the use of violence is tolerated in Malta. Needless to add, this is not acceptable to us. We demand that the government take the necessary action to enforce the law.”
Among the more serious of these attacks were three separate assaults on Foresta 2000 park ranger Ray Vella in October 2007, June 2008 and April 2009 respectively.
In the first case, Vella was shot in the face from close quarters as he worked on his private land in Mellieha. In the second, his Mellieha farm was torched, while on the third occasion he was shot again, this time after being lured out into the open by a vandal attack on the gate leading to his property.
No arrests were made in connection with these attacks.
Elsewhere, three other cars belonging to BLM were torched in February 2007, and the BLM-managed nature reserves at Ghadira and Simar have repeatedly been vandalised.
Saliba confirmed that, despite what appears to be a dramatic increase in violent acts targeting birdlife enthusiasts and their property, the government has so far registered no intention of increasing the number of Administrative Law Enforcement from the present, minuscule staff complement of 28 officers.
“Currently, law enforcement officers are not coping with the sheer number of criminal activities taking place,” Saliba said, adding that such crimes also include instances of illegal hunting and trapping – still rampant throughout the Maltese countryside, despite the fact that fewer than 100 hunters applied for this year’s ‘limited’ spring-hunting season.
Ironically, both BLM and the hunters’ federation FKNK agree on the need to beef up the woefully under-resourced ALE. But Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi – also responsible for the environment, as of March 2008 – has repeatedly dismissed these demands, while belittling BLM’s claims that the situation has now reached alarming proportions.
“ALE police are doing their duty. We don’t need a special branch. It’s not like we have a disastrous situation,” he told the Malta Independent’s Francesca Vella last year. “The police are doing their part and a good number of hunters and trappers are observing the law,” Dr Gonzi added.
BLM officials are now bracing themselves for a dramatic worsening of the situation, after the contentious ‘six-day’ hunting season officially opened yesterday. But the police’s Community and Media Relations Unit on Friday issued a statement to rebut claims that the police was overpowered by the sheer extent of illegalities.
“Contrary to the allegations made by BirdLife Malta, all police officers are committed to enforcing and upholding the law,” the CMRU said, pointing out that 81 persons had so far been apprehended hunting or trapping illegally, and another nine in breach of the firearms ordinance. “Such a commitment is not only focused on illegal hunting or illegal trapping but is also addressed to all kind of criminality.”
TIMELINE
Chaos in the countryside
12 April – Imtarfa Two men, one armed with a stick, threaten a team that had just filmed an illegal hunter
14 April – Ta’ Baldu, Mtahleb Graffiti with death threats and racist symbols, as well as animal organs, were left at a BLM watchpoint
15 April – Mtahleb Team of birdwatchers surrounded by group of hunters, who snatch and break a team-member’s mobile phone
16 April – Dingli Graffiti with death threats and racist symbols left at a BLM watchpoint
17 April – Mtahleb Individual gets out of a vehicle, threatenens team, and pushes security officer
17 April – Has-Saptan Several large rocks are thrown at a team as it investigates illegal shooting in the area
17 April – Manikata Back window shot out of a team car parked at Manikata Church, a few metres from a children’s playground
18 April – Dingli Two team-members attacked without warning and beaten to the ground by two individuals, who also erase video footage of the incident from their cameras. (The footage is later retrieved)
22 April – Mellieha Stones thrown at team’s vehicle during morning watch
22 April – Mellieha Two tyres slashed with knife on one vehicle during evening watch
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