Malta bans spring bird hunting after EU ruling

Yahoo News 25 Apr 08;

Malta on Friday banned spring bird hunting and trapping after the European Court of Justice issued a temporary ruling against the practice in the tiny Mediterranean state.

The ECJ issued the interim decision late Thursday to prohibit hunting of turtle dove and common quail, migrating species that stop in Malta on their way back to Europe to breed.

"It is for this reason that the hunting season for turtle doves and common quails in spring will not be opened," the government said in a statement.

The island nation, which joined the EU in 2004, is the only member state that has allowed spring hunting in recent years of the two species, both of whose populations are declining rapidly in Europe.

A final ECJ ruling is not expected for two or three years.

Reacting to the interim decision, Joseph Mangion, president of Birdlife Malta, said in a statement that "the overwhelming majority of the Maltese are against spring hunting and they want to see their government protect our common European heritage."

He urged the government to step up policing against illegal bird shooting and trapping to enforce the ban.

The government had been expected to proclaim a ban on spring hunting earlier this year, but the issue was complicated by elections last month and the pending ruling by the ECJ. The incumbent conservative government was re-elected.

Spring hunting of wild birds is illegal under EU law but a deep-seated tradition in Malta, an important resting place for birds migrating between Africa and Europe.

The dispute has allegedly led to a spate of violence and vandal attacks widely blamed on Malta's hunting association, the Federation for Hunting and Conservation, though few have been pinned directly on the group.