Malta 'bird slaughter' protected bird "Honey buzzard"

During a two-week monitoring programme, BirdLife Malta said it treated 17 birds of prey suffering from gunshot wounds.

Large numbers of birds pass over the Mediterranean island, which lies along a major migratory route between Europe and Africa.

Malta's hunting group said that it would take action against anyone found to be killing protected species.

"On good days for migration, when several hundred birds of prey pass through, the hunters are stirred into frenzy - desperate to shoot as many as possible, even within protected areas," said Grahame Madge, from the UK's Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB).

"To anyone who has not seen it for themselves, the scale of the slaughter beggars belief."

Mr Madge added that he believed that a "rogue element" of the island's hunters would "blast at anything that flies".

The two-week "raptor camp", organised by BirdLife Malta, invited birdwatchers from across Europe to monitor the autumn bird hunt on the island.

"If BirdLife Malta can receive 17 birds of prey with confirmed gunshot injuries in eight days, then the actual number of protected birds that are being shot throughout the country must be very high."