A flock of 5 short-toed eagles came under fire along the Victoria lines on Tuesday as members of BirdLife Malta followed the prized birds in an attempt to prevent them from being killed.

The organisation said in a statement the shots at these birds were fired as they attempted to find a resting place for the night, with one bird being filmed as it was shot down at Bingemma, while volleys of shots at these birds were fired along Tas-Santi, Dwejra and Mtarfa into the evening.

Video footage of the Bingemma incident was passed on to police with a hunter identified as being the same person involved in a separate illegal hunting incident during the closed season last August.

Information about a second, separate incident was also shared with police for further investigation.

The following morning, only two eagles were seen flying out of the northern part of  the island, while searches undertaken by police are believed to have been futile.

“Despite peak migration, only two EPU units are currently operative  around the island, with occasionally a single unit struggling to keep up with  reports of illegal hunting by NGOs,” Birdlife said.

BirdLife Malta said such incidents are a direct consequence of the lack of proper governance of hunting whereby thousands of birds listed in taxidermy collections have gone unchecked for years, with recent allowances in transfers rekindling demand for such birds to become taxidermy specimens.

The organisation added that it was holding Minister Clint Camilleri politically responsible for allowing the opening of a hunting season without the necessary police resources and for allowing a system where a hunter who was caught red-handed hunting illegally is, a month later, persisting in more wildlife crime.

It also remarked on the continuing situation with hunting federations taking no responsibility for their members’ actions.

Short-toed Eagles only appear annually in few numbers between September and  November, and they are highly prized for taxidermy.

“As was the case yesterday, hunters do not hesitate to use the opportunity of an open hunting season for game birds to target protected species. A 3pm hunting curfew to protect such birds of prey on arrival was changed to 7pm  in 2015, effectively allowing hunting to coincide with the arrival of these highly protected species,” Birdlife said.