For the Birds: Malta

Jeanine Barone, a travel writer with an eye for hidden treasures, sends us this note on the state of birds in Malta.

If the local hunters in Malta had their way, the only bird species you'd ever spot would be on a plate or stuffed and mounted over the mantel. That's what I discovered two weeks before I arrived in Malta by reading "Emptying the Skies," a shocking New Yorker article describing the traditional shooting and trapping of songbirds and endangered bird species in Malta, as well as in Cyprus and Italy. Pity these birds taking flight along the major migratory route that lies between Europe and Africa. Luckily, my winged friends have a fierce advocate in BirdLife Malta, a relentless conservation group that works to protect wild birds and their habitats.

Not far from the UNESCO World Heritage site of Valletta, I sit down with Geoffrey Saliba, the group's campaign coordinator, to chat about their contentious relationship with the hunters. In his office full of colorful bird photos and books he matter-of-factly tells me how his team lobbies for hunting restrictions, pushes for better enforcement, and keeps an eye out for illegal hunting and trapping. As a result, they have been attacked with stones, beaten, and had their cars badly damaged.

For more on birds on Malta, make the jump ...

 




Post originale: http://blogs.nationalgeographic.com/blogs/intelligenttravel/2010/10/edit-for-the-birds-malta.html