The hunters’ federation yesterday called on the government to review its decision on the autumn hunting season, and urgently to call a meeting with it “to remove this anomaly”.

Its statement came in the wake of the government’s decision, announced on Wednesday, giving the dates when hunters and trappers could practise their sport. But the government also laid down that between 15 and 30 September, there could be no hunting after 3pm.

It is considered that the last fortnight of September is the time when most birds of prey make an appearance, and that they do so in the afternoon. The thinking is that banning hunting from 3pm would prevent the hunting down of protected species.

The hunters’ federation, FKNK, said yesterday it could not accept this arbitrary and unnecessary decision and it went on to claim that the hunters who broke the law were few in number and seemed to have protection of some sort.

FKNK said it would issue directives in the coming days.

Accusing Environment Minister George Pullicino of being biased in favour of BirdLife (Malta), FKNK said the minister was showing himself to be obdurate and that the government was incapable of enforcing the regulations. It was obvious that neither the minister nor the government cared one jot for the thousands of hunters and trappers who unreservedly had accepted FKNK directives and rigidly observed the law.

The federation welcomed the government’s “belated commitment” to take action against those who broke the law and said it had already told the minister it was prepared to help in this.

But, referring to the Maltese negotiators who for the hunters came short when discussing the hunting issue at the EU membership negotiations, the FKNK said the government could not continue burdening hunters and trappers to make good the mistakes committed by those the government had paid to negotiate the issue with the European Commission.

The FKNK wondered what criteria the government had used to further curtail the season “because of a few people who thought they were above the law”.

At its proposed meeting with the government, FKNK added, it was prepared to discuss with the Environment and Home Affairs ministers a system of control so that those few people who were breaking hunting and trapping regulations and who to date seemed always to have had some protection, would at last be brought to justice.