Prime Minister Joseph Muscat this week proudly told members of the press that he had in the past closed the hunting season when required, but recently published official figures show that the number of protected birds that were illegally shot in the last two hunting seasons (autumn and spring) were much higher than in the years when the season was suspended. The PM did not take action in either of these instances.

32 protected birds were shot in the last autumn hunting season, according to figures released by the Wild Birds Regulation Unit (WBRU), while 13 protected birds were shot down during the last spring hunting season, according to data released by Birdlife Malta.

The WBRU figures show that 23 protected birds were illegally shot in September alone. At the time, in spite of public pressure, the Prime Minister refused to take action and said that the suspension of the hunting season is a prerogative of the Ornis Committee.

“According to the regulations, for a hunting season to be suspended or for its parameters to be changed, the prerogative stands with Ornis Committee,” an OPM had spokesperson said.

Minister for the Environment Jose Herrera later confirmed with The Malta Independent on Sunday that the Prime Minister had the right in extremis, to suspend the season.

In fact, as the Prime Minister now acknowledges (he had failed to do so last September), he had twice suspended the hunting season without any recommendation of the Ornis committee, first in September 2014, after five protected birds had been gunned down, and then in April 2015, after a protected bird of prey was shot and fell into the football pitch at a Cottonera school.

Speaking on the latter incident, Dr Muscat had said that "despite sharp decline in illegalities, today's hunting incident is inexcusable. I have decided to immediately close down the season."

It is remains to be seen why the Prime Minister refused to take action when the number of illegal shootings had increased substantially.

In October 2016, after Ornis Committee Chairman Mark Anthony Falzon avoided numerous calls from the Malta Independent and a further four birds had been shot, Parliamentary Secretary for Agriculture, Fisheries and Animal Rights Roderick Galdes said that the suspension of autumn hunting season was not justified.

PN Leader Simon Busuttil has also tried to distance himself from the issue by saying that he is in favour of the 2015 spring hunting referendum, and that he would respect the EU court’s decision on finch trapping in Malta.

It is of little surprise that both parties are hesitant to tackle the issue so close to a general election when the hunting lobbies command  15,000 members, not including their members’ immediate family.

In fact, election time often sees both sides of the political divide attempt to appeal to the group as the hunters’ party, often avoiding talking about the illegalities that are taking place.

So much so that this week, Dr Muscat also said that he wanted to revise the law regarding fines for hunters and trappers, calling the way the courts are implementing this law as “draconian”. This would effectively mean that fines and punishments for hunters are expected to be reduced if Labour is re-elected.

Campaigner for ‘NO’ in the 2015 referendum, Alan Montanaro took to social media to condemn the Prime Minister saying “the existing fines were barely a deterrent. I thought the environment was on the agenda!”

President of Kaccaturi San Ubertu Mark Mifsud Bonnici believed that the deterrents and enforcment had worked, and that the number of illegalities had in fact drastically decreased over the years.

When asked about the spike in the last year, he said that the number of illegalities committed in the last two hunting seasons, were most likely done by people who did not have hunting licenses.

He made it clear that politicians should stop referring to the hunting community under FKNK, stressing that there are four different lobby groups on the island.