Dear all, Trust Patron Chris Packham is in Malta highlighting the yearly massacre of the migratory birds that fly over the islands every spring. From the 21st to the 26th of April at 9pm UK time he is going to be doing a nightly video diary to highlight this appalling massacre.
Check them out at http://www.chrispackham.co.uk/
Malta has the highest density of illegal hunters (up to 10,000) in Europe and what they are doing is wrong and illegal and has to stop; this affects everyone. The very birds being shot in Malta are our spring and summer nesting birds here in the UK and they are not getting a chance to reach us depleting our own bird species and diversity. Every bird shot is depletes our ecosystem and this is happening throughout Europe where the birds migrate to.
The killing of migrating birds in spring is expressly forbidden by the European Union, but Malta’s government continues to allow turtle dove and quail to be shot at this crucial time of year. As well as shooting at these birds, many Maltese hunters also use the spring hunting season as an opportunity to target rare and protected species of birds that breed in Europe, such as Pallid Harriers, Cuckoos and Bee-eaters. Everything is being shot even birds that are sitting on the ground at night are ‘hunted’ by torch light and shot.
Along with over 60% of the Maltese population, BirdLife Malta believes it is time for this to stop. 45,000 Maltese people (more than 10% of the population) have signed a petition calling for a referendum where they will be able to vote to end spring hunting once and for all.
To help stop the massacre of birds every year make a donation to help pay for video cameras, telescopes, binoculars and other equipment so the volunteers can do their job, please you’re your donation through  https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/stop-spring-hunting-on-malta  There is also a great deal more information on the Indiegogo site and watch Chris’s nightly blogs on his website.
Please make this appeal go viral, send it out to every contact, twitter account and Facebook page you belong to. Help make stopping the slaughter a reality, make this the last year ever that the Maltese Archipelago becomes a Killing Fields
