The ranger of the Foresta 2000 site in Mellieha, Ray Vella, was shot in the face by a hunter while tending to his own field in Wied il-Mizieb, BirdLife said yesterday.
Vella, a long-time member of BirdLife, has been the ranger of the Foresta 2000 site in Mellieha for the last four years personally tending to the trees, near the Red Tower where 3,000 trees were damaged by vandals last May.
On Monday afternoon at 5:52pm, Vella had just arrived at his field and was tending to his land when a hunter shot in his direction from a distance of around 35 metres.
“I was hit in the face in several places and shouted out in pain, making it clear to the hunter that I was hit,” said Vella.
“The hunter in turn aggressively shouted back at me, swearing at me and cursing BirdLife, clearly showing that he knew who I was. He then ran off, while taunting me over his shoulder to call the Police.”
Vella immediately contacted the emergency services, Police and BirdLife Malta. However, while Dr Andre Raine, BirdLife’s conservation manager, reached the site at 6:27pm, the police only got there a full one hour and three minutes after the incident.
An X-ray taken of Vella revealed one lead pellet embedded in his nose, which was subsequently extracted by doctors at St Luke’s Hospital.
BirdLife yesterday said Vella was lucky to have sustained light, superficial injuries. “Had the shot been a centimetre to the right he would have been shot in the eye.”
Vella later rendered a full statement to the police and expressed his intention to proceed with pressing charges.
“This is outrageous, appalling and unacceptable. Words do not suffice to condemn what happened to Ray and to adequately express BirdLife’s incredulity with the way that our citizens cannot enjoy their country side in safety,” said Joseph Mangion, BirdLife Malta president.
“Vandalism of nature protection projects, indiscriminate killing of protected species and xenophobic messages inciting violence have become the order of the day. Political parties cannot continue to allow these barbaric acts to continue to be inflicted on the people of Malta. What does this say to our children, what morals are we teaching them? We urge all political parties to take a common stand to put an end to these criminal acts,” Mangion said.
Din l-Art Helwa also condemned the criminal act and urged the government to bring the criminal to justice. In a statement, the Environment Ministry expressed solidarity with Vella, saying the attack was linked to his affiliation with BirdLife.