The association for hunting and conservation (FKNK) president Joe Perici Calascione said today that the federation has collected a record number of signatures in a bid to block the abrogative referendum calling for a spring hunting ban, but stopped short of revealing how much.
Giving a rundown of the percentage of signatures collected according to various age brackets, Mr Perici Calascione said that the majority of signatories were persons aged between 16 and 28 (20.89 per cent) and the least signatories being those aged between 14 and 18.
He said that the petition will be presented to parliamentary secretary Michael Falzon, a hunter himself, on Monday, who in turn will present the petition in parliament.
When asked what he expected from legislators, Mr Perici Calascione said that the FKNK is in no way against a democratic referendum however pointed out that if parliament failed to take into consideration the number of signatures collected and did not discuss the issue, it would be conveying a message that it is not interested in what the thousands of people have to say.
He said that a number of associations, clubs and organisations have supported this petition including the horse racing association, St Hubert’s hunting and trapping federation, the song bird association, the Malta Shooting Federation, the Association of Arms’ Collectors, fire and pigeon racing enthusiasts, among others.
Mr Perici Calascione said that individuals who said that they would be conducting a war against hunting and contested elections all ended up garnering the least votes, referring to AD’s Arnold Cassola and Carmel Cacopardo, PN MEP candidate Jonathan Shaw, among others.
When questioned over Joseph Cuschieri's MEP election result, who despite having received hunters' endorsement prior to the election, failed to be elected, Mr Perici Calascione replied saying that PL candidates Alfred Sant and Marlene Mizzi, who said that they believed in our principles, were elected.
He said that the individuals behind the coalition against spring hunting are extremists who are out to ruin the lives of minority groups, in this case referring to hunters, for personal gain, politically or financially.
“The call for an abrogative referendum is a vindictive attack on the legal privileges a minority group in society enjoys,” he said.
Mr Perici Calascione said that the PN has not discussed the FKNK’s request as yet.
“We hope the PN comes to us with some feedback before Monday since we have been told that they would be discussing the issue internally on Wednesday,” he said.
In April, a section of the media had revealed that minors’ signatures were being used to bolster a petition to block the spring hunting referendum.
Mr Perici Calascione had confirmed that signatories included a number of minors but denied media reports that hunters had already collected 90,000 signatures at the time.
“All those who signed are Maltese citizens and ID card holders. They are not all of voting age,” he had said, adding that these would all be 18 by the next general election in 2018.
Until March, a total of 44,376 signatures were collected which is more than enough for a referendum to go through, 40,351 of which are in the Electoral Register.
The signatures collected by the FKNK were collected in a matter of six months.