The spring hunting season for turtle doves and quails will go ahead as planned, the ministries for Health and Rural Affairs and the Environment, announced yesterday in a joint statement.
The spring hunting season starts on Saturday.
The government announcement was released while the Association of Hunters and Trappers was holding a press conference. The association’s general secretary Lino Farrugia had already said that the association’s members would be going out to hunt as normal on Saturday regardless of any government ruling when the decision was announced.
He said the association had been informed that the hunting season would be stopped as a precautionary measure in view of a possible outbreak of bird flu and that this “is definitely not acceptable to the FKNK”.
As soon as Mr Farrugia announced the government’s decision, the hunters who packed the room began cheering.
Mr Farrugia said the association had cooperated fully with the ministry and other authorities with regard to precautionary measures against a possible outbreak of bird flu.
He said the association had accepted restrictions on hunting at sea and other similar measures without any qualms.
The association was in constant contact with Veterinary Department Director, Dr Mireille Vella, he added, and with other international associations.
The FKNK secretary general said the bird flu virus was primarily found in wild fowl and the precautionary measures focused on the eventual transportation of poultry.
He also warned all members who would be hunting on Saturday to properly dispose of any carcasses and to follow strict hygiene instructions when cleaning and eating their catches.
In their joint statement issued through the Department of Information, the Health and Rural Affairs ministries said that after an analysis of the situation, it was decided that the spring hunting season can open as normal on 25 March, ending on 22 May.
They said that the European Commission had clearly ruled that it had no intention whatsoever to recommend increased culling of wild birds in order to combat the current bird flu crisis but has no intention either to advocate a general ban on bird hunting.
Both ministries said that they had taken on board all directives issued by the European Commission through its Scientific Committee and the government would continue observing closely all the decisions taken by this committee.
They said that hunting was permitted only on quail and turtle-doves and excluded water fowl.