The hunters' federation fears the anger of hunters could spiral "out of control" over the abrupt closure of the spring shooting season.

The federation will not take the government's "vindictive" decision lying down, secretary Lino Farrugia charged, amid rumours that hunters are prepared to take action independently.

In a surprise decision on Wednesday, the government announced it would put an end to the spring hunting season, after a massacre of protected birds.

Trapping, however, is expected to continue until May 20, the day when the hunting season was also meant to end.

Several injured and dead protected birds have been reported in several areas since the season started on April 10.

The EU Birds Directive does not permit hunting in spring in order to protect wild birds before they are about to nest.

The hunters' federation council met last night to try and map a way out of the chaos.

"We're not going to reach decisions hastily as the Prime Minister did," Mr Farrugia told The Times.

Though there was anger at the "few" who broke the law, many hunters are calling on the federation to take drastic action in protest against the government.

Asked if he feared their anger might get out of hand, Mr Farrugia replied: "Yes, I do fear it. Some people are saying things but it's difficult to say whether they will actually do anything.

"You might have heard, as I did, that some people want to organise their own protest in Rabat. So far we've planned nothing and I'm telling our members to wait."

Mr Farrugia said the federation had no problem in condemning illegal hunting. "But you simply cannot blame everybody. You don't close a Church just because one priest errs."

Mr Farrugia said he is not concerned that the spring hunting season might never open again, saying the government will eventually realise its mistake.

"The government got its first warning in the local elections. If need be, it will get a reply in the general election," he warned, expressing disappointment that the Prime Minister was reluctant to meet the federation.

Environment Minister George Pullicino insisted last night that the decision to stamp out hunting this season was taken because of the indiscriminate shooting of hundreds of birds of prey in the south of the island on Wednesday.

"We needed to address what happened in the strongest of manners. We were let down by the hunters and the hunters have let themselves down - they've shot themselves in the foot," the minister said. Mr Pullicino said he expected the hunters' federation to have a system of self-regulation to control its members and change the Rambo image to one of sustainable hunting.

It was useless for the federation to point fingers at the few renegades. Parish churches have sometimes cancelled feasts because of fighting triggered off by the few. Likewise, the Italian football federation postponed matches all across the country following serious clashes outside the Catania stadium.

"There was a need for a period of reflection in Italy at the time. Likewise, the hunters need to take stock of the situation," he said.

Still, despite the decision, the government will continue to maintain that it has a right to obtain EU permission for spring hunting for two species, Mr Pullicino said.

While applauding the government's decision, BirdLife Malta executive director Tolga Temuge said the infringement situation vis-à-vis the EU had not changed.

Asked whether he was optimistic that the police enforcement will be enough to stamp out hunting, Mr Temuge said the Administrative Law Enforcement Unit had been doing a difficult job with extremely limited resources.

Some hunters may choose to continue hunting and risk getting fined but BirdLife believes illegal shooting will decline drastically.

Mr Temuge said BLM was in touch with the police to ensure important sites are safeguarded.

"Yet, it is almost impossible to police all the sites that might be attacked. The important thing is that these criminals are brought to justice as soon as possible. Otherwise it will send the wrong message."

While condemning illegal hunting, the Labour Party accused the government of effectively giving up on enforcing its own laws.

It is clear that the ALE cannot stamp out illegalities with the existing resources, Labour spokesman for the environment Roderick Galdes said.

The government's decision to stop spring hunting would weaken its case when the EU takes its infringement proceedings to the next step.

The Labour Party, he added, would persist with the request to continue hunting for two species in spring, justified by a scientific study.

In the meantime, the army arrested a hunter in Gozo yesterday who was found in possession of two shot honey buzzards.

AFM soldiers stationed in Nadur were observing some six honey buzzards hovering at the bottom of the cliff face in the area of il-Qortin ta' Isopu when a series of gunshots were heard, and two hunters were immediately noted.

One stashed away a large downed bird, and hightailed away from the area as the soldiers converged on the scene.

Subsequently, during a surveillance operation, the soldiers apprehended a 20-year old from Nadur with two shot honey buzzards in his bag.

The army has also stepped up its patrolling, especially around the site where 3,000 pine saplings were destroyed by vandals in Mellieha on Tuesday night.

Friends of the Earth Malta, International Animal Rescue Malta, Nature Trust (Malta) and Graffitti welcomed the decision taken to stop spring hunting.

Alternattiva Demokratika, on the other hand, feels that the government's decision to close down the hunting season was too little, too late.

The hunting season should not have opened in the first place, chairman Harry Vassallo said.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.