Game abundant in other countries (1)

I was neither shocked nor surprised - in fact, I was expecting something from David Conlin from Germany after what happened in Buskett on Sunday February 10.

In his letter Mr Conlin makes a lot of exaggerations like "A serious accident is waiting to happen", "death and other threats to members of BirdLife Malta", "inflammatory material on the internet", among other things.

May I remind Mr Conlin that this case is still being investigated by the police, and if the culprits are caught they will be punished whoever they may be, hunters or not.

He also states he is afraid for his well-being when he comes here again this year to protect his and our natural resources, after his experiences last autumn.

If he was threatened when he was here last, he should have filed a report and action would have been taken.

When he is here, he should observe Maltese law, stay off private land and respect the Maltese hunter.

May I point out certain things to Mr Conlin about hunting in Germany. These figures are from the official German hunting association's report for 2002, which can be found on the association's website.

The fox can be hunted from June 15 to March 31 and annual bag is 642,892.

Wild boar, young, all year round, annual bag 531,887 (including adults).

The red, roe and fallow deer from July 1 to February 28, annual bag 1.2 million heads.

Greylag goose from August 1 to August 31, annual bag 33,568. But most surprisingly, the wood pigeon can be shot from July 1 till April 30, annual bag 831,216.

Mr Conlin can verify this himself. The expenditure generated by field sports in Germany in 2002 amounted to €750 million.

As one can see, German hunters are blessed with a wide variety of game in abundance, and can practically shoot all year round, while here we depend only on migratory game, and in a good season I may be lucky enough to shoot 10 turtle dves.