In a front-page report in The Malta Independent on Sunday of 8 April, FKNK general secretary Lino Farrugia was quoted as saying that “banning hunting on Sundays and public holidays was based on a flimsy excuse, that of enabling families to enjoy the countryside”.

How arrogant and selfish! I do not consider it a ‘flimsy excuse’ at all but a very rational and justifiable ‘reason’. Families and the public at large have every right to be able to enjoy the countryside on these days without being subjected to gunshots from every direction and the antagonism of disgruntled hunters and trappers who, not satisfied with six days a week, consider any family “enjoying the countryside” an intrusion on “their territory”.

Having said that, someone in Wied Garnaw (between Santa Lucia and Gudja) is ignoring the ban anyway as he has done every season – and as I have reported every season. I urge everyone who witnesses illegal shooting or trapping to report it both to the police and Birdlife, as well as the EU.

Clifford John Williams

STA LUCIA