In its first press conference since the abrupt closing of the spring hunting season last week, the Federazzjoni Kaccaturi Nassaba Konser-
vazzjonisti (FKNK) yesterday unleashed an attack against the government, describing its unilateral actions as “abusive, dictatorial, unjust and anti-democratic”.
As far as the federation is concerned, it may have lost a battle, but it “will continue to fight the war.” The federation will also seek to remove a clause from its statute determining its political independence and urged hunters and trappers, when they next take to the polls, to use their vote to voice their disapproval of the government.
According to the FKNK, there are two reasons behind the current “chaotic” situation. The first is the government’s “weakness and lack of political will in its confrontation with the EU” over the implementation of the Birds Directive.
“While Malta is an EU member state like any other, since it is a small country, it allows the Maltese and Gozitan people to be treated as second-class EU citizens,” commented FKNK public relations officer Joe Perici Calascione.
The second is the bella kumpanija (favourable liaisons) between Minister Pullicino and certain NGOs, Mr Perici Calascione added.
He commented, “Every decision the government has made since March 2006 to date has been one after another in favour of BirdLife Malta and against the thousands of hunters and trappers.
“We started seeing BirdLife’s plans changing last year when it began employing foreigners.” Such employees, according to the FKNK, are hired “mercenaries”.
The FKNK also accused the former Malta-EU Information Centre as having been in “full complicity” with the government in misleading hunters and trappers before the EU referendum.
As matters stand, the FKNK feels it has been betrayed by the government. Mr Perici Calascione added, “Various members of the federation want to take the streets to express their disagreement with the government’s actions, but we believe that in so doing we would simply be playing the government’s game.”
Today’s predicament is a very delicate situation, the FKNK explained, adding that “the way matters have been imposed upon us is anti-democratic” and that the decision to prematurely close the spring hunting season had been an “extremist” action favouring an “unjust” method of collective punishment against all hunters.
“If the government thinks it has won some kind of war, we say that maybe BirdLife could be congratulated for having won a battle, but we and every Maltese and Gozitan hunter and trapper will continue to fight the war,” Mr Perici Calascione added.
“This revenge (the closure of the hunting season) was an act against every hunter and trapper who obeyed, without reservations, the FKNK directive to not break hunting and trapping regulations. The government has taken away what can never be replaced – the last days of spring hunting 2007.”
Additionally, hunters and trappers were urged to exercise their right, their vote, in “the best interest of what has been denied in an atrocious and malicious manner.”
In the coming days, the FKNK will hold an extraordinary meeting where it will propose removing from its statute the phrase “The FKNK is also independent of any political links or colours.”
Mr Perici Calascione added, “If this proposal is approved, the FKNK will be able to support or oppose any political party. That is the only way to assure the future of hunting and trapping in Malta – this is the only solution.”
The FKNK added it will continue with all necessary proceedings before the courts of Malta.
Referring to the publication of photographs of dead birds, the FKNK yesterday accused BirdLife yet again of falsifying such photographs.
Hunters and trappers on numerous occasions have been wrongfully blamed, without proof, for a number of incidents, the FKNK insisted. These include the recent vandalism with oil at the Ghadira nature reserve, the earlier damage to the Mnajdra Temples, and the more recent vandalism at the Foresta 2000 site in Mellieha where some 3,000 pine saplings were destroyed.
Referring to this latest incident, Mr Perici Calascione added, “What happened was that the name of hunters and trappers was worsened, while the project and BirdLife received another strong financial boost.”
Referring to the incidents on the evening of 9 May, in which over 100 honey buzzards, a protected species, were allegedly slaughtered, incidents that had led the government to close the spring hunting season abruptly, FKNK questioned why no one had been apprehended breaking the law although there were police and soldiers on patrol.
That, according to FKNK, leads one to believe that perhaps the reports were false or that the number had been exaggerated.
Mr Perici Calascione added that the slightest excuse had been found to close the season – pleasing BirdLife and “their friends”, while making “the minister look good for Europe”.
A BirdLife spokesperson commented yesterday, “The current management of FKNK seems to be living in another age.
“They are the only ones in the European Hunters’ Federation (FACE) who do not want to honour the agreement between FACE and BirdLife International and respect the Birds Directive.
“Although they are free to continue hunting certain species throughout autumn and winter like their European fellow hunters, they always wanted more, namely hunting in spring and the continuation of trapping using methods that are illegal throughout the rest of Europe.
“It is evident that the FKNK management does not want to live up to their common responsibility as Europeans but the Maltese government and genuine law-abiding hunters should.”
Also speaking yesterday, FKNK secretary general Lino Farrugia expressed indignation over the fact that the Prime Minister refuses to meet with the federation.
The FKNK had requested a meeting with the Prime Minister for yesterday, but was instead instructed to meet with Mr Pullicino.
During the meeting and at yesterday’s press conference, Mr Farrugia stressed that the new harsh penalties against illegal hunting were no solution to the problem and put forth an argument for the self-regulatory method.
The FKNK requested a clear set of regulations, as the police were many times unsure about how to handle incidents, Mr Farrugia observed.
“Malta is a small country where everyone knows each other and as such, the implementation of fines and penalties is very difficult. Self-regulation would be an internal matter and the way forward to fostering responsible hunting practices,” Mr Farrugia added.
The federation also called for a boycott on the MaltaToday newspaper after editor Saviour Balzan penned an article in which he took credit for the termination of spring hunting.
“Saviour Balzan is a traitor to the Maltese people, as well as to the government which employed him to negotiate, in good faith, with the EU over the Birds Directive,” Mr Farrugia commented.
A criminal complaint was filed yesterday by Mr Balzan at the Msida police station, the locality in which the comments were passed so that the “words are not translated in action”, Mr Balzan said yesterday at a press conference.