Malta massacres birds, again

Malta lies on a migratory route for birds between Africa and Europe. As if in celebration, the island organises a kind of welcome committee, twice a year. Guns point at the sky and pick off as many birds as possible. Internationally protected species fall to earth, dead or wounded. Great quantities of money spent on re-establishing endangered birds in another country come to nought. This shameful, indiscriminate hunting, although illegal, is apparently tolerated by a disinterested Maltese government. They don’t seem to care that their island is now associated with images of dead or mutilated birds. The photograph of a kingfisher with its lower bill blasted off sums it up.