Afternoon hunting banned 'to accommodate foreigners'

The government was yesterday accused of attempting to push out hunters from rural areas to make way for foreigners.

Federation of Hunting and Conservation (FKNK) secretary Lino Farrugia said the ban on afternoon hunting was imposed to accommodate a group of foreigners currently taking part in BirdLife's raptor camp.

But worse, he continued during a press conference, the ban, which he described as robbing "innocent citizens" of their democratic freedoms, had been imposed so that a group of German "extremists" - the Committee Against Birds Slaughter - could spy on the Maltese with the excuse of helping the police stop illegal hunting.

"Apart from being degrading towards the police corps, this situation surely constitutes foreign interference," he said.

The ban was described by Mr Farrugia as a "collective punishment" imposed by Environment Minister George Pullicino.

"What right does the government have to kick out Maltese and Gozitan citizens from their own country so that it can be enjoyed by foreigners?" he asked.

The country, he noted, should be enjoyed by locals, and any foreigner who criticised Malta should be declared a "persona non grata".

He said part of the country had already succumbed to foreign leadership, referring to BirdLife Malta, whose director, Tolga Temuge, is Turkish. 

In a statement last night, the Ministry for the Environment said the sole reason behind the decision to stop hunting after 3 p.m. for 15 days from September 15 was to protect law-abiding hunters from those who shoot protected species. "This decision makes even more sense in light of the events in May when a number of honey buzzards were shot.

"In fact, the period chosen for the restriction on hunting coincides with the peak migration of raptors but does not coincide with the timing of the bird-watching activity mentioned by FKNK."

The government added that it will continue taking whatever steps are necessary to promote sustainable hunting and safeguard the interests of responsible hunters until such time that the hunters' associations come up with a proper proposal for the self-regulation of this activity as had been requested of them in June.

Mr Farrugia yesterday called on hunters and trappers not to allow any foreigners to provoke them and not to allow them inside their property.

He also urged them not to allow anyone to take photos, and if they did with hidden cameras, this would constitute a breach of the Data Protection Act and they should, therefore, inform the police.

On the other hand, he urged them to take note of any birds they saw since the "foreigners" would try to make believe the country was on some principal migratory route.

"There is a rumour doing the rounds that they will multiply every bird they see by five at least," he said.

Turning to politics and the upcoming general election, Mr Farrugia urged Nationalist hunters and trappers to attend activities organised by the Nationalist Party and pose questions to the Prime Minister, especially since he seemed unwilling to meet the federation.

The federation expected meetings with the Malta Labour Party to continue at the earliest.

Referring to self-regulation, he said this had already been proven successful during the spring season when it was voluntarily adopted in a number of areas.