On Friday, the hunting federation won a court battle allowing its members to take part in a Spring hunting season. Just a few days later, we witnessed the first mass killing of protected species.
On Monday night, a group of Marsh Harriers were massacred over Delimara, during the night, with Birdlife Malta releasing night-vision footage of the incident.
Birdlife said when the police showed up, they were unsure of what to do, and arrived too late to catch the culprits. So far, there have been no arrests, only empty words of condemnation by the FKNK and a handful of politicians. Once again, we have seen how Malta is a lawless country when it comes to hunting illegalities, where cowboys are allowed shoot down anything that flies with little or no consequence.
The FKNK acknowledged that the incident took place and condemned the actions. But as has become customary, it said the illegalities are carried out by a few rogue hunters, and not by its “thousands of law-abiding members”.
Such a statement is hard to believe when hunting crimes take place all year round, all across the country. We always blame the rogue few, when in all probability, the number is much bigger.
The federation, which has always relied on government backing, be it Labour or Nationalist, wants us to believe that hunting for Turtle Dove is carried out for ‘scientific reasons’. We would genuinely like to learn how one studies birds by shooting them out of the sky.
In any case, in this latest incident, the birds that were shot down were not Turtle Doves, and those who killed them surely know the difference between a dove and Marsh Harrier.
The culprits are idiots – there is no other word to describe them. They are jeopardising their own cause, endangering this Maltese ‘tradition’ by shooting down anything with feathers.
They know that such cases lead to anger across the Maltese society at large, but perhaps they are emboldened by the fact that the police lack the resources they need, and the government will always stand by their side.
The minister responsible for hunting – Clint Camilleri – is himself a hunter and has always taken the hunters’ side. Last week, he found the time to celebrate, on social media, the court decision to open the hunting season. He did not have time, however, to condemn the illegal killing of birds.
The minister has once again shown how spineless he is when it comes to hunting, how his personal hobby comes before the law. According to Birdlife’s Mark Sultana, the minister was daily seen in the company of a taxidermist wanted in court, but who, for some mysterious reason, can never be reached by court officials to be served with his summons.
Now we also have a parliamentary secretary for ‘animal rights’ – Alicia Bugeja Said – who is in favour of hunting. Just a few days ago, she felt the need to post on social media about how ‘satisfied’ she was that Maltese traditions were ‘safeguarded’ after the courts ruled that the hunting season could open. She also wished hunters a ‘good season.’
Just a few hours later, she wrote again, this time to condemn the killing of protected birds. At the same time, however, she reiterated that hunting is a ‘right’.
One wonders how the person responsible for the welfare of animals can condone the killing of birds. The mind boggles.
It is high time that the hunting federation is stripped of the support it is afforded by the politicians responsible for their practice.
Politicians should stop encouraging them to commit illegalities, and must make sure that they are considered as mortals like us, in the eyes of the law.