Scotland’s migratory birds
being killed in Malta

Scotland’s migratory birds being killed in Malta

Dear Sir,

The people of Scotland, who spend huge sums of money on nuts and seeds to feed wild birds in their gardens, will be horrified to know that tens of thousands of our country’s most familiar migratory birds are being trapped and massacred every spring in Malta.

These birds, including swifts, swallows, house martins and cuckoos, which migrate from Scotland to North Africa every autumn, stop off to rest in Malta during their long return journey to our shores.  But on Malta, more than 12,000 hunters are lying in wait every spring, ready to gun them down in their thousands for sport.

Urgent action by the European Commission is needed to ensure EU laws are upheld against spring hunting of birds. Unless we protect the migratory paths over the Mediterranean, conservation efforts to protect bird life in Scotland will be in vain. This is an attack on Scotland’s biodiversity which cannot be allowed to continue.

Yours faithfully,

Struan Stevenson MEP
The European Parliament
Rue Wiertz
B-1047, Brussels