Birdwatchers had an unpleasant surprise on the last day of their raptor camp last Sunday when cow dung and three dead birds of prey were placed symmetrically in the area near Nadur Tower, Dwejra, from where they had been spotting illegal hunting over the past weeks.
While the marsh harrier and the lesser kestrel looked like fresh kills, the honey buzzard was cold, probably due to it being frozen after it had been shot.
The Committee Against Bird Slaughter (CABS) yesterday week showed footage of a booted eagle being shot down over Dwejra. Police and soldiers held four people on the same day and impounded their boat on suspicion of illegal hunting.
Axel Hirschfeld, a CABS member who was in Malta to monitor illegal hunting, told the German press that it was very clear that there were many hunters breaking the law in Malta.
Last Sunday, a Lesser Spotted Eagle, one of 16 eagles that in had cost a total of 1 million EURO to save in Germany, was shot and wounded in Birzebbuga.
Sigmar, as the eagle was named by the German press, was flown back to Germany on an Air Malta flight on Thursday.
An X-ray taken on Friday showed that six shotgun pellets had hit the eagle.
While the Federation for Hunting and Conservation condemned the shooting, messages in its Website forum expressed doubts whether the bird was actually shot here.