Ecological bullies in Malta

Is it time to ban the ownership of guns in Malta.

The whole world is coming to realise that the changes man has made to the planet have caused serious ecological damage. Many animal and bird species are in significant decline throughout their range. The migration routes for many birds travelling between Africa and their breeding grounds in Europe funnel through Malta. Malta is in a unique position to protect the birds and to build a thriving and prosperous eco-tourism year-round holiday market.

As part of the European Community the people of Malta have voted to join and enjoy the benefits of membership. The people of Europe welcome the people of Malta with open arms as equals. However, membership is not a one-way financial street, it is not for the hunters of Malta to pick and choose. To enjoy all the benefits, then the people of Malta including the hunters have to abide by the wider European wildlife protection rules.

The major amount of illegal (out of season and protected species) hunting activity in Malta is widely recognised throughout the whole world. Deliberate and premeditated oil pollution on Malta's nature reserves cannot and should not be tolerated. The vandalism and irreparable damage done to archaeological sites, threats made to members of the government and individual people as well as protection groups, supposedly peaceful demonstrations, that quickly deteriorated into threatening and almost riotous behaviour in the street... Combine all this with insufficient numbers of effective police officers for human as well as wildlife protection. This now calls for a serious re-think of firearm ownership throughout Malta.

It demonstrates that there is only one course of action available to the government - seriously reducing or eliminating altogether the number of guns in public ownership or control. This is the only real and effective way to manage the hunting problem in Malta. I have the feeling that if some serious action is not taken quickly, some visitor to the island might have some bad experience. This type of publicity would damage the tourist industry and the reputation of Malta for a very long time.

Bullies now believe that they are in control of Malta's streets. They are the same mindless people that are still free to carry out atrocities on Malta's nature reserves, who make threats and intimidate wildlife groups and other individuals, who have done irreparable damage to Malta's ancient archaeological sites. These same people are a direct challenge to the rule of law and order. As such they should be neutered by removing all ownership and access to firearms.

Penalties for illegal ownership or carrying of firearms can then be made very stringent with minimum custodial sentences and the inclusion of significant fines that are truly effective. If the government of Malta is too weak to put the measures in place, be assured that the reduced number of tourists to Malta will be a continuing trend. It is high time that the government of Malta should adopt a "zero tolerance" attitude towards such individuals and their blatant bullying activities.

No hunter or conservationist would want to be associated in any way with Malta's ecological bullies.