Living in fear of hunters

What has to happen before hunting is stopped? I have lived here for six years with my family, and hope to continue to enjoy doing so, however I can say that the general respect I have for the Maltese and Gozitan people is severely tested by those who carry guns.

I have on many occasions been fortunate to see what most civilised people consider to be the awesome beauty of wild birds of prey. On every single occasion this has happened the birds have been shot and killed! I have witnessed the scrambling urgency of hunters, alerted to the presence of hawks in our valley, arriving with screeching tyres from all directions and firing with abandon at the birds regardless of the presence of my family. On one occasion a young hawk was blown apart from shots coming from three different shooters, two of whom aimed above the pram my wife was pushing. My young sons were frightened and sickened to see such a magnificent bird slaughtered for fun less than 20 yards from us.

On another occasion last year as I went down to San Blas Bay I watched two kestrels circling above the cliffs. A group of tourists joined us and enjoyed the sight (which is rare in the UK). Imagine their horror when someone started shooting at these birds. A rapid pump action repeater shotgun soon managed to kill them both even though we screamed furiously at the culprit from a distance below.

The tourists were shocked and appalled and wanted to report the incident to the police immediately. I gave them the number. Nothing happened. They said they will never return here.

My lack of action to date has been due to the desire to remain living in harmony among people I respect and admire in so many ways, but this has now ended. My family and many others are at the point where we are considering moving to another country where there is more respect for the environment.

What has pushed me over the edge is the fact that for the last three mornings of the Easter holiday I was awoken at dawn by the sound of shotgun pellets hitting my bedroom window. I have heard of two other people hit with shot this same week.

It is no longer safe to walk my dog let alone my children around these islands! The attempts of the hunting community to respond to their critics is laughable; how they can claim to be anything other than a national embarrassment is ludicrous!

So what will it take?

Perhaps some well coordinated action from environmental NGOs - how would the government react if there was a boycott against Malta? Or will it take some high profile accident to bring international attention firmly to bear on this issue? What if an angry tourist gets shot when he objects to seeing a bird slaughtered, or an expat? Now is the time for the government to step in behind the real concerns of bird flu and justify a complete ban. There will never be a better time or an easier opportunity.

To deny the logic of this argument is to deny sanity. There are more youngsters walking around with guns today than there has ever been. This is not a tradition that needs defending, it is a national illness that needs urgent attention before it literally brings down a plague!