Prime Minister Joseph Muscat was yesterday true to his word and closed the spring hunting season after repeated incidents where the law was broken.

This publishing house unreservedly backs the Prime Minister’s decision after having campaigned for a No vote in the referendum last month. Following the close result, the PM had warned hunters that the game had changed and that abuse would not be tolerated. He had also said that hunters were given what was probably their “last chance”.

Well it seems that that chance was schoolchildren witnessing an injured and protected kestrel crash landing in a playing field after it was shot by a hunter near Cospicua. The Prime Minister said that while illegal hunting had been drastically reduced, yesterday’s incident was inexcusable. He’s right. But also inexcusable were the other incidents which have taken place over the past weeks where cuckoos and a gull and a lapwing was shot, where a Dutch teenager was hit by lead shot and subsequently threatened and assaulted by a hunter.

This was bound to happen. The majority of hunters did abide by the law, but it is clear that there are some who just simply cannot contain their bloodlust. Many will argue that the spring hunting season should not have been opened in the first place and others will argue that the season should have been closed when the first illegality was registered.  There would only have been three more days of hunting left in the season, but still, this is a victory for all who campaigned in the build up to the referendum as they have been vindicated.

This newspaper published a leading article last week, calling for the Prime Minister to close the season, so we would also argue that the season has been closed late, but as the saying goes, better late than never.

What now remains to be seen is what will happen when the next hunting season opens. Will the Prime Minister be willing to shut it down again if illegalities take place? What will happen next year when Spring comes around? Will the government open the season, or have the hunters exhausted their last chance? We hope that the government will decided not to apply the derogation which gives hunters the licence to kill birds that are migrating north to breed.

They only have themselves to blame. Gone are the images of gentlemen hunters who look after the environment. The truth has emerged. Many of their rank simply do not have any respect whatsoever for the law and think they can breach it with impunity.

To be fair, the hunting organisations have repeatedly put the message out that any illegalities should be reported, and many hunters did do that. The ALE will have to continue to patrol the countryside. There is no doubt that some hunters might decide that the law does not apply to them and go out to shoot at birds anyway. If they do, the police should throw the book at them and the courts should show no clemency.