The editor-in-chief of L-Orizzont and It-Torca, Sandro Mangion, has been threatened after he declared he will be voting against spring hunting on 11 April.

Mr Mangion published an extract of the threatening message, which said:  “If the referendum on the hobby that my family members and I hold dearest goes through, then YOU will be the first person that we...” 

In a reply on Facebook, Mr Mangion wrote:

 “I don’t hate hunters, and I have several hunter friends whom I really respect. Neither am I against the principle of legal hunting for food. When I stop eating fish and the meat of slaughtered animals, then I might be in a position to speak against the hunting of animals for food that doesn’t threaten the species’ future.

Just as birds suffer when lead pellets hit them, farm animals also suffer when they are slaughtered and fish when they are fished. I am not against legal hunting for the rest of the year. Buildings have swallowed up a third of our country and most of the countryside is private land,” “It is therefore unjust for the little bit of countryside that is accessible to the public to be enjoyed solely by hunters during the most beautiful days of the year.

Abolishing spring hunting will not deny hunters the right to enjoy the countryside. They will still be able to visit it with their family members and friends, only without guns in their hands.”