The title is not a suggestion, it is rather a description of the current situation with hunting and trapping in Malta right now. The news this week of a record 210 cases of illegal hunting show that the Government has lost the plot on hunting and trapping. Only the few lawless poachers benefit from such a situation. The rest of the population, be they law-observing hunters or the rest of us who would want to enjoy the countryside and its inhabitants, are worse off when authority is missing in action.
The news of a record year for hunting illegalities is based on documented data. We have seen them well enough. Marsh harrier, flamingo, bee-eater and many other protected species killed or wounded, pepper the walls of local social media. And yet, the data and the ‘phenomenon’ was not documented or followed up as you would expect by some government or enforcement authority. It was all done by Birdlife.
So while the Government should be the guardian of our natural resources and its police force the arm to secure observance and enforcement of the law, it seems that the job is not theirs to pursue. That job is de facto being outsourced to Birdlife and other private organisations who fill the void left by authority. That is fundamentally wrong on several fronts.
First of all because only a government authority can have the required executive powers to see that the law is observed and that those who consider contravening are seriously deterred from doing so. Secondly, because leaving enforcement to private organisations is simply adding up to the confrontation and mistrust between the two sides of nature lovers, those who want to capture and hunt, and those who want to watch and enjoy the living nature.
Government’s abstention from doing its job of patrolling, monitoring and enforcing the law on hunting is not in the least in the interest of the hunters themselves. The situation is leading to an increasingly dangerous characterisation of all hunters as criminals, ready to shoot down anything that flies around. This is not just untrue. It is also unjust on the majority of the hunters who consider it unmanly to shoot down a protected bird.
In default of proper authority being exercised, the law observing hunters will have to contend with being painted and brandished with the petty criminals who would shoot anything just to add to their embalmed collections.
They are also having to give up on a good part of the enjoyment of their hobby, which as I was told by a good number of hunters and trappers, rests in the peace and tranquillity they find in taking their strategic shooting location, sharing a cup of coffee and waiting for the bird, which may never come. It is that peaceful anticipation that fulfils the hobbyist’s dream. The ‘namra’ as hunters and trappers would call it.
Well, that ‘namra’ is not what it used to be now that you can be photographed, recorded or stalked in many different ways by private undertakings taking the role of an environmental Chuck Norris. Just as Birdlife is taking up the reporting and data collection role supposedly exercised by the police forces, the German NGO CABS is filling up the void on the monitoring side, using drone technology and stealthily placed long-range cameras to snoop on hobbyists in the countryside.
CABS’ methods and operations are, to my mind, in direct conflict with the rights to privacy and enjoyment of private property and public open spaces. It is however hardly easy to make that argument when most of the cases of illegal hunting or trapping brought to court depend on the footage or photos by CABS or Birdlife.
The same reasoning seems to have reached Brussels in the past years. The European Commission is at present considering enforcement action against Malta on hunting and trapping. I was personally surprised that the Commission expressly referred to Birdlife data in its justifications earlier last year. It is very telling that an institution like the European Commission prefers to rely on data by a private organisation rather than quote Government data. But well, Government data does not really exist. Its’ enforcement is hardly anywhere to be seen.
Like the hunter and the nature-lover, Brussels has to fill the void of Government authority with the next best available option. Government’s reaction to that tells us that they have no intention of changing track. Instead of seeing to proper enforcement to promote sustainable trapping and hunting, it keeps on pandering to its supporters that it will ‘defend the traditions’. To do that they, should be in control to begin with.
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