Mark’s bird horror in Malta

Mark’s bird horror in Malta

7 May 2014

A WILDLIFE enthusiast has spoken of his sickening encounter with an illegal hunting industry threatening the spring migration of protected birds.

Mark McCormick travelled from Downpatrick to Malta with fellow wildlife lover and television presenter Bill Oddie as part of a Springwatch campaign to ban the hunting of thousands of migrating birds as they stop off each spring.

More than 10,000 hunters spread across the small island of Malta every spring to target the birds as they migrate back to Europe.

Mark is an activist with the League Against Cruel Sports, which is lobbying the Maltese government to ban the practice.

Although he felt privileged to be in Malta with wildlife experts as inspirational as Bill Oddie, Mark said his overwhelming feeling during the trip was one of disgust and even fear.

He was horrified when one of the hunters trained his gun on him when they arrived at one of the particularly popular hunting grounds.

“His gun was literally pointing down the camera lens at me. It was quite sinister,” he said.

“I find it difficult to really describe the experience of going out to Malta and seeing first hand spring hunting.

“On one hand it was an absolute privilege to work with the dedicated volunteers from Malta and around the world, at the Springwatch camp, and also working closely with inspirational people such as Bill Oddie, however I found the experience of seeing the countryside littered with as many as 10,000 hunters shooting at anything that flies really quite sinister.

“A sick adrenaline takes hold of you and it almost feels as if you are going into some kind of battle.

“I had to pinch myself and tell myself I’m not in Helmand Province, I’m in Malta.”

As the team made its way across the island to their observation points in jeeps each day, Mark said they heard starlings singing in the trees, echoed by the sounds of gun fire.

On his first day, the valley they visited seemed empty until they looked closely to saw hundreds of hunters littered throughout the countryside.

Mark said the first bird that flew over was a collared dove.

“All of a sudden guns were going off everywhere. It was shot about eight times,” he said.

“There was a lot of evidence of illegal shooting.

“As some protected birds flew overhead we could see holes in their wings from being shot at.

“Maltese people will tell you they won’t go out running, they won’t take dogs for walks in the countryside in hunting season as it’s quite dangerous.

“The whole experience was quite surreal. I recorded a number of video diaries when out there to try to capture the reality of what is going on.”

Mark’s video diaries can be viewed online at www.league.org.uk/malta