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There are more than 500 species of wild birds in Europe. Every spring millions of them make the voyage back to the continent after winters spent sunning themselves down south.

For these birds, the journey from Africa to Europe is arduous, to say the least, with wild weather, predators and exhaustion all meaning that a successful migration is nothing short of miraculous. Seemingly endless desert sands and open water crossings are particularly fraught. And then there are human threats¹.

On their spring migration to Malta, thousands of birds are shot by hunters every year.

Around 340 bird species use the islands of Malta as stopovers on their long migrations between Europe and Africa every year. Turtle doves, quail, swifts, yellow-legged gulls, bitterns, kestrels and the rare Montagu’s harrier head to Malta to breed, feed and rest². The vast majority are protected by law, rare or in serious decline.

The Birds Directive is the European Union’s oldest piece of nature legislation. It is designed to protect wild birds indigenous to the region, recognizing that the wild birds, including migratory birds, are part of Europe’s shared natural heritage. Malta, however, misapplies an exemption from the Birds Directive which makes it the only European Union country that allows recreational spring hunting³.

This derogation was designed to protect public health and safety, but its misapplication results in the deaths thousands of vulnerable species such as quail and turtle dove which travel through Malta en route to their summer habitats yearly⁴.

Recently, BirdLife Malta teams documented two incidents where hunters shot down protected Turtle-doves, and the same day found a protected Common Cuckoo with gunshot injuries5.

BirdLife Malta said it will be documenting incidents of illegal hunting to submit a report to the European Commissioner for the Environment for further action⁵.

These vulnerable avian species are protected in other European nations, but inadequate protections in Malta during the spring hunt means they are often targets. Although the European Court of Justice ruled that Malta had repeatedly and illegally allowed spring hunting to take place, the European Commission (EC) is refusing to take action to stop it.

It’s time to end Malta’s abuse of the Birds Directive. Sign the petition calling on Malta’s Commissioner for the Environment to enforce the European Court of Justice’s decision to make all of Europe’s skies safe for migrating birds.