Animal Rights Parliamentary Secretary Clint Camilleri, himself an admitted FKNK member, has delved into a social media war with BirdLife Malta.

In a tweet today, Camilleri posted a statement by CABS, reporting that hundreds of birds of prey arrived in Malta and stayed in Buskett, in addition to a number of other birds. Cabs said that to their surprise, not a single shot was fired.

Camilleri, in his tweet, said: "Just in case you missed it: 'A clear sign of a change in the Maltese hunting community' 'not a single shot' - CABS."  He then tagged the FKNK, BirdLife, and news outlets.

BirdLife Malta retorted by saying "since you missed this, share this too" linking to BirdLife message that 9 protected birds since September 1 (that number has since risen to 11). The BirdLife post which was in the link reads: "all these birds are protected species, and continue to highlight the ruthless situation with the illegal killing of birds in Malta. These nine casualties represent only a small fraction of the protected birds being targeted."

In response, Camilleri said "No need to, BirdLife Malta & the 'independent' media do that part perfectly - inflating the few illegalities & ignoring all positive news. Well done"

BirdLife CEO Mark Sultana then tweeted the following to Prime Minister Joseph Muscat: "@JosephMuscat_JM the above comment by junior minister @Clint_Camilleri is shameful & should be retracted. I call his bluff now. Show me which figures by @BirdLife_Malta are inflated. Same figures that WBRU have. Tal-misthija."

In response to this, Camilleri again posted the CABS report, to which Sultana said: "Do not deviate from the challenge. Clint Camilleri you stated that we inflate figures. Show me which figures are inflated. Or retract your tweet. I repeat I am calling your bluff. 

Camilleri then responded: "It was stated that all storks were killed. One person was taken to court whilst another is being investigated. How did you conclude that the rest of the storks were also killed?"

Two people were taken to court over the killing of a number of storks, however BirdLife also previously said that it suspects the rest of a flock of storks which had come to Malta during summer, were also killed.

BirdLife, in yet another response to Camilleri, said :"When you state incorrect and unethical statements you have two options. 1) to man up and apologize 2) to slither yourself under a rock. Are you a man?"

 

This newsroom contacted  BirdLife CEO Mark Sultana, who said that when Camilleri was made Parliamentary Secretary for Animal Rights, he remained very respectful towards him even though others were saying that this was a mistake. "I wanted to give him a chance to prove that he can move above his personal interests and conduct his job. Today his comments prove he is not accapable.  He crossed a line, being disrespectful to civil society, tweeting a lie, saying that birdlife exaggerates on illegalities, when figures we presented are the very same ones his Wild Birds Regulations Unit has."

"I have challenged Camilleri, calling his bluff, and am asking him to tell me which figures we stated are incorrect.  I asked him to man up and apologise, or the Prime Minister has to to find another position for him, as in my opinion he won't have our trust unless he removes tweet and realises he was wrong."

This newsroom asked Sultana about the storks which were over Malta, and BirdLife's statements on that situation, to which he highlighted that some BirdLife representatives said that they suspected the storks were shot, but the ENGO did not include those numbers in their figures. "In last press conference with figures to date, we only included the two storks that ended up at vet, and we didn't even include the storks we saw get shot but did not have the bodies. That is how ethical we are. But Camilleri who was silent during whole storks ordeal, now opted to trydefend his position, by saying we said x, y or z.  He lied twice. He deviated from the challenge."

"Having a junior minister blatantly lying against civil society is unacceptable. "