Ocean Sentry
(From maltamedia.com) – BirdLife Malta announced that a young Audouin’s Gull, a threatened species, was found with serious gun shot injuries at the Valletta Breakwater early this week.The juvenile bird was taken to a veterinary but had to be euthanized due to the extent of its injuries. Europe holds 75% of the global Audouin’s Gull population, with the majority of the highly localised breeding colonies located in Spain.
‘There are no records of Audouin’s Gull breeding in Malta, so this bird must have fledged from its nest a few months ago in one of its European breeding colonies.’ explained BirdLife Malta’s Conservation Manager Dr André Raine.
‘This bird represented one of the summer’s successful offspring and would have added to the European population of this threatened species. Instead it was shot down by a poacher in Malta.’
