Illegal hunting of turtle-doves dominates start of spring hunting season BirdLife Malta raises the alarm less than a week since the spring hunting season was opened, and illegal hunting is already rampant 16 April 2021, 3:41pm by Laura Calleja BirdLife Malta warned that in less than a week since the opening of the spring hunting season, it had been inundated with calls from the general public about rampant illegal hunting. The NGO said callers had witnessed protected birds, including European Turtle-doves, being shot down, with an incident in Ghasri, Gozo making the rounds on social media. “In the meantime, BirdLife Malta teams documented at least two incidents of hunters shooting down protected turtle-doves and reported these to the police,” BirdLife Malta said.