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British holidaymakers flocking to Malta this summer are being urged to back a ban on the country’s annual mass bird shoot.

Each year the Mediterranean island hosts a three-week killing frenzy where nearly 10,000 gun-toting hunters using the motto “if it flies, it dies” blast hundreds of thousands of migrating birds out of the sky.

It is the only EU country to have a recreational spring hunting season allowing birds to be shot.

Wildlife expert Bill Oddie has called on the 450,000 UK tourists who will fly to Malta in the coming weeks to press the authorities to scrap the yearly bloodshed.

He said: “Maltese gunmen call this annual massacre a ‘tradition’, and indeed it is – a cruel, wasteful, destructive tradition that may only abate when there are no more birds to kill. It must not get that far.”

There are 9,800 registered hunters in Malta. This works out as 80 hunters per square kilometre of land where hunting is permitted – a bigger concentration than anywhere else in the world.

The hunters target many protected species, such as buzzards, harriers and kestrels, travelling from Africa to Europe for the spring.

“They’re just target practice. They skin them and stuff them and put them in cases for people to come and admire,” Oddie added.

“There’s no way it isn’t cruel.”

Malta bird shoot 10,000 Number of hunters 44,000 Maltese signatures calling for referendum 74 Percentage of Britons who want it banned

Campaigners have released shocking images of birds wounded by gunshots - see the video above - in the hope of raising awareness of the annual killing spree among holidaymakers.

Oddie, vice-president of the League Against Cruel Sports, travelled to the popular tourist island in April to witness the carnage of the hunting season.

The charity also recorded a film which shows the horror of the shooting season.

Armed men are seen stalking lush green valleys, pointing their weapons at the sky and taking aim before shots ring out while dogs jump around ready to collect the dead birds.

Blood-soaked animals wounded but not killed suffer “appalling” injuries meaning they usually have to be put down.

Maltese vet Dr Eurydike Kovacs said: “The injuries are mostly wing injuries, sometimes leg injuries, open fractures.

“The bird is bleeding from the wound; very often I can see the bone sticking out of the wound.

“These are really painful injuries. Even if they arrive here shortly after the injury, the bird is (still) suffering greatly.

“Eighty per cent of the birds that come here we have to euthanise because their injuries are so great.”

League chief executive Joe Duckworth said: “Malta is a hotspot for tourists, with 450,000 British people holidaying there every year.

“Many are ignorant to the plight of these birds and we hope that our film will help shine an international spotlight on the brutality and cruelty taking place.”

More than 44,000 Maltese citizens, more than 10 per cent of the total population on the island, have signed a petition calling for a referendum on whether the legalised spring hunting should continue.

A recent YouGov poll revealed that 74 per cent of Britons polled said Malta should ban the annual shoot – and a fifth of those surveyed said they would be more likely to holiday in Malta if a ban was imposed.

poll loading Should all hunting for sport be banned? 1000+ VOTES SO FAR YES NO