Malta’s chief spring game bird, the turtle dove (Streptopelia turtur), is a prolific breeder in captivity and thousands are so bred by several local avian captive breeders, but mostly by Maltese hunters and trappers.
Every year, on several occasions, Mnarja, Children’s Outings, St. Julian’s Feast (Maltese hunters’ Patron Saint), etc., the Federation for Hunting and Conservation – Malta (FKNK) has released thousands of turtle doves into the wild, which birds would have been bred in captivity by the FKNK members.
In 2017 the FKNK launched its project: Turtle Doves – Captive Breeding and Release, and in May of that year over 400 turtle doves were released from Buskett gardens. In 2018 the project released over 700 turtle doves, this time from Gozo. This year’s release will take place come June.
The aim of this project, which is one of several that the FKNK has embarked-on, so that as soon as possible, the traditional turtle dove spring hunting season will again be permissible, is the restocking of the wild population, which is the only tangible contribution that Malta can do towards the conservation of this species in the wild. Besides that, the released amount can serve as a compensation measure for turtle doves that may be taken from the wild in the Maltese islands. Since the turtle doves are bred in captivity, they are all adequately marked with rings before release.
