Spare a thought for hunting dogs

I come from a family of hunters; my father is a hunter, my uncles are hunters and my grandfather was a hunter. Although I am not a hunter myself, I have on a few occasions accompanied my relatives on their hunting excursions and have come to appreciate what this hobby means to them and what a big part of their lives it plays. I would not like to go into the matter of the EU or the government's unfulfilled promise regarding spring hunting, but I would like to voice one of my concerns.

Nobody has yet spared a thought for hunting dogs. Dogs who have been exposed to hunting become enamoured with this hobby; this love is locally known as "in-namra". At the beginning of spring, hunting dogs display an unequivocal longing behaviour - a longing to be out in the country and do what they do best: hunt. Indeed Malta has its own breed of hunting dogs, "il-kelb tal-kaċċa".

Now I ask, is it not cruel to deprive these dogs of their true love and of their natural instinct? Are BirdLife and all those opposing spring hunting animal lovers or are they only bird lovers?