The usual suspects

The recent spate of criminal vandalism against our national heritage reminds me of similar incidents that occurred some time ago when the hunting issue was hot on top of the political agenda.

Whenever the government tried to revise the hunting laws to a more civilised level, we always woke up with random incidents or threats targeting our historical monuments. In 1991 "Namur jew intajjru" (our hobby, referring to bird-trapping, or we will blow the place up) was prominently written near the 5,000-year-old Hagar Qim.

On Good Friday of 2001, again when hunting and trapping were frequent topics in the media, some 60 megalithic stones were damaged at Mnajdra, the worst criminal act ever inflicted on Maltese heritage. Mnajdra is a World Heritage site and probably the oldest free-standing building on Earth.

The list of vandalised historical monuments is not short, some are even more directly linked to hunters like the damage done in 1994 by slogans in favour of hunting and against Dr Stanley Zammit, parliamentary secretary for the environment at the time, sprayed all over the temple of Borg in-Nadur in Birzebbuga.

This spring is being dubbed as one of the last springs ever that hunting is going to be allowed in Malta. Last month we had inspectors from the European Commission to check out our shortcomings regarding hunting. Last week we had a high profile press conference by the Hunting and Trapping Federation that spelled out the reality that hunting and trapping have to face after 2007. Hot heads get even hotter.

Then we wake up with burnt oil dripping down Portes de Bombes.