Chris Packham cleared of assault in Malta after confronting bird hunters

The naturalist and broadcaster Chris Packham has been cleared of two counts of assault in Malta after confronting hunters who had trapped wild birds.

A Maltese magistrate dismissed the case against the BBC Springwatch presenter after Packham produced video evidence in court that showed he was jostled by a hunter while filming an interview about the illegal slaughter of birds on the island.

According to BirdLife Malta, the charity supporting Packham, the judge criticised police and suggested they send the footage to “an Italian comedy channel” because their behaviour was so farcical.

The film and sound recordings show that after Packham was manhandled by a hunter, officers arrived and pushed away the presenter, his producer and his sound recordist .

“The prosecution were blown away by the fact that we have this damning evidence,” Packham told the Guardian after the verdict. “The police said I was assaulting the hunter and pushing him around. As soon as the judge saw our video evidence, which showed it was the other way around, he was incredulous.

“We’re not going to press any charges against the police or the hunter because we’ve got better things to be doing. At the moment there are a lot of embarrassed police officers and hunters.

“This highlights the problem that BirdLife Malta face on a constant basis when they are trying to get the law implemented. We’ve all got tremendous respect for the work they do out here because it’s demoralising and frustrating.”

In a statement, Maltese police said that while officers were conducting an inspection on private property “a male person reported to the police onsite that he was pushed by Mr Christopher Gary Packham. Upon receiving this information, the police asked Mr Packham to report at the Victoria police station in order to be spoken to regarding this alleged incident.” The case was heard in Gozo court “and Mr Packham was acquitted of all charges”.

Packham and his team have spent a week in Malta broadcasting independently on YouTube and Facebook Live, highlighting the illegal killing and trapping of rare migratory birds that occurs alongside a legal but controversial spring hunt on the island.

Malta is the only EU member state to allow the shooting of birds in spring, having an opt-out from the EU’s birds directive, which bans the practice elsewhere. This year, there was a moratorium on the shooting of the rare and endangered turtle dove, but hunters legally shot 130 quail.

Packham said the legal hunt was a cover for a much wider slaughter. One Maltese hunter was this week banned from shooting after being filmed illegally firing at a stone-curlew. The Committee Against Bird Slaughter (Cabs) found 25 turtle doves illegally trapped in a cage.

BirdLife Malta has recorded the remains of 15 illegally shot birds this spring, including hoopoe, marsh harrier and turtle dove, but Packham said this was the “tip of the iceberg” because scores of other killings on private property had gone undetected.

The spring shoot gave hunters “the ability to be out legally in the springtime shooting”, he said. “That means all those other birds are being shot illegally. The key thing is to stop this spring hunting. It’s wholly unsustainable and destructive.”

Wildlife charities and campaigners are calling on the EU to take action against the Maltese government for breaches of the birds directive and finally ban spring hunting.

“We need the European commission to be a bit more demonstrative and energetic in forcing Malta to adhere to the European birds directive,” Packham said.

Maltese voters narrowly rejected the abolition of spring hunting in a referendum in 2015 and Packham said his annual visits to the island to highlight the shooting had made him unpopular.

“I get filthy looks from Maltese men of a certain age wherever I go, but I’ve had quite a few comments on my Twitter feed from Maltese people saying this shames and embarrasses us, it must be brought to an end,” he said. “A significant number of Maltese people want to be part of modern Europe.”

Packham said the charges brought against him were an attempt to intimidate him and stop him campaigning in the country. “It’s not going to work,” he said. “We’re going to be coming back until these issues are resolved.”

Next year, he is planning to bring a group of birdwatching tourists to the island to show tourism officials that Malta could make more money from ecotourism in spring and autumn if it stopped the shooting.

“We’ve seen some really good birds here this week, thankfully alive: wryneck, golden oriole, bee-eaters, Alpine warblers, Montagu’s harriers. If it weren’t for the shooting, it could be one of the leading birdwatching destinations in Europe.”