BirdLife Malta has asked the government to suspend the spring hunting season due to widespread illegalities, executive director Steve Micklewright confirmed this afternoon.

Speaking after a meeting of the government-appointed hunting derogation monitoring board, Mr Micklewright also said that the NGO may consider resigning from the board unless the FKNK suspends an official caught hunting in a nature reserve – or unless the federation itself resigns from the board, executive director Steve Micklewright said.

The FKNK, however, is unwilling to do either action, according to its spokesman Joseph Buttigieg.

The official in question is Edwin Vella, who was photographed within the Foresta 2000 reserve – which is managed by BirdLife. The site is freely accessible to the public at all hours, but hunting is prohibited as it falls within the Ghadira bird sanctuary area.

Mr Vella – who has filed a guilty plea in court – was photographed yesterday, on the same day when another hunter, Chris Gauci, was fined €4,658 and banned from hunting for three years after he admitted to hunting at the reserve. Mr Gauci’s firearm was also confiscated for destruction. Another hunter, Carl Borg was arraigned over the same offence, but he has pleaded not guilty.

Mr Buttigieg confirmed that both Mr Gauci and Mr Borg have been expelled and banned from the FKNK. But he insisted that Mr Vella’s case was different.

The hunting federation’s spokesman said that Mr Vella, who forms part of one of the FKNK’s district committees, had simply strayed into the reserve by accident. He said that a turtledove shot by Mr Vella had inadvertently ended up in the reserve, and that he had simply gone to retrieve it – and not to hunt.

The explanation did not convince Mr Micklewright, however, who stressed that the federation should practice the zero-tolerance policy it preached and suspend Mr Vella.