Maltese bird massacre

Chris Packham is soon to post a nightly ‘as live’ You Tube diary covering the appalling, Spring slaughter of migrant birds that happens for so-called ‘sport’ on Malta every year. The aim is to raise awareness of this mindless massacre of migrant birds as they pass through Malta from Africa to reach their breeding grounds in Europe each Spring. Anything that moves is shot; from tiny warblers and swallows to herons, storks, doves and birds of prey – everything is fair game. They are killing ‘our’ birds for no better reason than target practice; they don’t even eat them. Thousands of birds die every year but, horrifyingly, it is still legallised on Malta despite an EU Birds Directive that it is illegal! Small birds are often lured to bushes using previously trapped, live birds that are literally glued to a branch using sticky lime; their calls attract the migrants which are then similarly caught on limed branches or just shot out of the air. I urge, I implore you to look at Chris Packham’s video diaries later this month and to follow the story through this link; http://tinyurl.com/q5f2rtk With enough support we might be able to shame the Maltese government into putting a stop to this dreadful, annual massacre.