Joseph Perici Calascione, FKNK chief, said tonight that if the ‘no’ campaign wins in the upcoming referendum on 11 April, the hunting lobby will respect the result, and members have already been advised not to cause any trouble.

“I will not make any guarantees. Hunters have every right to celebrate if the yes movement wins, but that does not mean one has to be violent or offensive when doing so. We will conform to legalities. Members have already been warned, and we mean business,” he said, during a press conference hosted by the Broadcasting Authority.  During the conference, journalists from all media houses asked questions to the Mr Perici Calascione.

Asked whether a yes result will open door to more abuse, the FKNK chief said the lobby applies a zero tolerance policy to abuse, and any members caught hunting protected species will have their memberships revoked.  "Culprits of such abuse are only negatively impacting us. We do not want them around,” he said. “The incidents the NO camp is stressing so much upon are not as common as they are portraying.  If people are being threatened or hit by lead so often, then they could report such cases to the police. The police force already carries out over 5,000 spot checks during the hunting season and a a parliamentary question revealed that only one person reported such a case to the police. We have always shared the countryside with everyone.”

Mr Perici Calascione stressed that spring hunting is highly regulated, and the consequences are so big that most hunters would not even risk committing illegal acts.

Asked why hunters seem absent from the campaign’s billboards and TV spots, the FKNK chief said that the hunting lobby carries out measures to protect the environment, and it was important to make this public now."

Political leaders stand carries weight

Asked why the hunting lobby is using the political leaders decleration that they will be voting yes when it is a personal opinion, Mr Perici Calscione said that that position carries a lot of weight. “Both leaders have worked hard to apply such derogation. In any case the referenda act should be used to apply more derogation and not remove existing ones.”

Yes campaign financed by donations and memberships

Asked who is behind the campaign and how it is being financed, Mr Perici Calascione said the campaign is being led by members of hunting lobbies, which include professionals from all walks of life, and not merely hunters themselves. On financial support, he said that the campaign is being financed through donations and membership fees, and the lobby is working to make accounts public after referendum is over.

Hunting lobby does not exclude taking case to EU courts if no camp wins

Mr Joseph Perici Calasixione said it is still too early to decide whether the hunting lobby would take the case in front of European Courts, however if legally there is an option, they would not exclude it because hunting presents a large part of hunters' lives.

 

Asked about hunters’ statement that all minority rights are at risk of being abolished through the referenda act, the FKNK chief said that the referenda is open to interpretation, and it may be later used to revoke fishing or firework licenses.

 

“All birds hunted are edible”

 

Questioned why the prospect of killing birds is perceived as a hobby by some, Mr Perici Calascione said that every living organism has to die. "One life of a protected species means a lot, but we are not talking about such species. This is the circle of life, humans kill and eat animals. All hunted birds are edible,” he stressed, adding that the yes campaign is based on sustainability. He said the hunting lobby meets up every year to discuss whether such sustainability is in place, whether the hunting season should open again, and whether quotas should be changed. One must however note here that the hunting lobby relies on statistics put forward by the hunters themselves.

 

Asked whether hunters should be trusted on the amounts of hunted birds they put forward, Mr Perici Calascione omitted a yes or no answer, simply saying that hunters only hunt birds which will still die if not caught. I, personally, have not shot down one turtle dove for the past four years, and other hunters are in a similar situation. Malta is not even within the three main routes birds take when traveling to  North Africa.”