Court decision on spring hunting for turtle dove next Monday

Judge Giovanni Grixti is expected to deliver his ruling on an injunction filed by BirdLife Malta, seeking to prevent legal spring hunting for the vulnerable turtle dove, on Monday.

In a hearing on Friday, BirdLife presented a letter sent by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) to EU Environment Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevičius.

IUCN asked the commissioner to “immediately request that Malta protect the European turtle-dove” and “refrain from opening a spring hunting season in 2023, and in subsequent years”.

Science and data contradicted pro-hunting arguments, BirdLife’s lawyer Martin Farrugia said, explaining the injunction application was filed to stop the downward trend in the species’ numbers.

He said that data from the Pan-European common bird monitoring system also confirmed the vulnerable species’ constant decline, losing 80% in the past 30 years.

The judge declined the State Advocate’s request to revoke the prohibitory injunction and has announced a final decision for Monday morning.

FKNK reports activists over dead turtle dove

FKNK has reported BirdLife Malta to the police for presenting a dead turtle dove in a media conference outside Castille on Thursday.

The hunting lobby accused the activists of committing a crime, saying that being in possession of a dead turtle dove is illegal.

“It’s not illegal, but if there is any illegality, everybody knows who we are”, BirdLife Malta President Darryl Grima told Bonġu on Friday afternoon.

“Unfortunately, FKNK didn’t say the turtle dove was actually killed by a hunter, and did not mention anything about the illegal killing that is happening right now”, Grima said.