Nearly three quarters of those responding to an online poll by timesofmalta.com have shot down the government's claim that it has a mandate to safeguard hunting and trapping in spring.
Several respondents again claimed they were prepared to play the hunters' game and refrain from voting for the Nationalist Party if the government was prepared to defy EU law to appease the hunting lobby.
A total of 73 per cent of those participating in the timesofmalta.com poll disagreed with the government's statement that it had a mandate to sanction spring hunting. The EU has opened infringement proceedings over the matter, but the government maintains it is merely applying a derogation applicable under the Birds Directive.
As expected, several individuals were outraged that they were being told by the government it had a right to actually do the contrary of what they had voted for.
"If the government allows this folly to go on, it cannot do it in my name," one angry respondent charged, and another appealed to the government to stop treating the electorate like imbeciles.
Some anti-hunting respondents made it clear they were prepared to use their vote to voice their dissent.
"My vote will definitely go to those that declare themselves against bird shooting," one individual said, and another claimed he had switched his allegiance to the Labour Party because Alfred Sant had already made it clear Malta would have to abide by EU regulations.
A female respondent summed it up this way: "When you sit on the fence, you are shot from both sides! The government may evade the 1996 situation when the hunting lobby voted red, but the 2007/2008 election will be remembered as the one where the anti-hunting lobby didn't vote blue".
One person said that by threatening the government with their vote, the anti-hunting lobby was merely mirroring the hunters' antics.
Another suggested that the government and the opposition come out with a common position, especially since the MLP could well be in power shortly and will have to face the music.
The aftermath of the infamous hunters' protest in Valletta, last Wednesday, evidently incensed some readers, with one individual insisting that hunters should ban the "thugs" from voting.
Politicians were chastised for going to great lengths to safeguard the hobby of a few voters while ignoring the "destruction" taking place in the few open spaces of the island. "Maybe ramblers and all those who have the country's environment at heart should arm themselves with a couple of shotguns, maybe then our politicians will take the state of the environment seriously."
Many of the respondents called for a referendum to establish what the Maltese people really thought about the matter. A number held different views and argued that a centuries-old tradition cannot and should not be eliminated by a stroke of the pen.
"Tough luck... Hunters will be around long after their detractors have bitten the dust," one wrote.
Before Malta's EU referendum, the government made it clear to the electorate it had negotiated the retention of spring hunting, the secretary of a hunters' association said.
One person, who insisted he was anti-hunting and trapping, applauded the government for moving in the right direction with what he described as a calculated strategy.