MLP spokesmen accuse government of not honouring hunting pledge

The Labour Party spokesmen for the environment, Joe Brincat and Roderick Galdes, have accused the Nationalist government of failing to honour its pre-election hunting promises.

It seems the autumn season is being reduced despite an electoral pledge by the Nationalists that it will not be touched, they said.

The hunters' federation objected to the 3 p.m. curfew for a fortnight during the autumn season when the government issued the hunting regulations last week.

Dr Brincat and Mr Galdes also accused the government of failing to seriously tackle the problem of illegal hunting. Environmental organisations have been complaining for a long time about the shortage of resources at the police Administrative Law Enforcement Unit to cope with the problem of illegal hunting.

Reacting to the comments, the Environment Ministry accused the opposition of seeking to take political advantage by criticising concrete measures designed to reduce shooting on protected birds of prey.

The ministry insisted the government kept its promise not to touch the autumn season, so much so that the opening season dates have remained the same. The reduction of hours, and not days, was a small amendment in the light of the negative experience last May when a number of protected birds of prey were slaughtered, it said.

It also appeared that the Labour Party was also mistaken with regard to law enforcement because the government was taking concrete steps to strengthen the ALE, district and mobile squad police capabilities, the ministry said.