The two flamingos were doing very well.
They spent most of the time walking with their head close to the water feeding.
They were never far apart from each other and it was easy to imagine that they
were in love and that they would breed in the reserve once they became adults.
The pair of flamingos was the highlight for
the hundreds of school children and families who visited the reserve during the
past five months.
Alas, the flamingos are no longer in the
reserve. On Saturday morning the birds were not to be seen. A search around the
reserve provided evidence that there was a break-in during the night. Everything
indicated that somebody entered the protected area to get the birds. The storm that
was blowing made it easy for whoever it was to enter the reserve without being
detected.
The argument that the two birds could have
left the reserve does not hold water. Birds do not normally choose to migrate
on stormy nights. Secondly, it is not a coincidence that somebody broke into
the reserve on the same night that the two birds disappeared. A hunters’
association said that some of its members saw the two flamingos migrating. I do
not believe this.
The disappearance of the two flamingos was
a repetition of the same old story. Every time an interesting bird decides to
spend some time in Malta it
ends up a stuffed trophy in somebody’s cabinet. Whoever entered the reserve did
not only disturb or kill protected birds. He also robbed hundreds of visitors to
the reserve the pleasure of watching two beautiful birds.
I hope that the police will soon find out whoever
broke into the Ghadira Nature Reserve and if found guilty he is punished
severely enough to deter anybody who is tempted to break the bird protection
laws.
This article was published in the Times of Malta on 29 January 2015.
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