Carmel Farrugia, Birkirkara.
Hunters' vote
To some biased people the recent general election "proved" that hunters and trappers are "a spent force" and the hunters' and trappers'vote "totally insignificant and ineffective".
It is incredibly naive to think that the votes of hunters and trappers and their families amounting to well over 30,000 do not make a difference in Maltese elections which can be won or lost by a few hundred votes. In the last election the hunters and trappers were at liberty to vote as they wished and one cannot say what they did.
The positions of the Nationalist Party and of the Malta Labour Party were practically identical on the spring hunting issue, both declaring they would abide by the decision of the European Court of Justice and that both parties if elected to government were prepared to defend spring hunting at the ECJ.
If one thing can be stated objectively, this is that this election has proved nothing conclusively about the hunters' and trappers' vote. The only party with a clear-cut anti-hunting policy failed, yet again, to obtain even one parliamentary seat. This alone should by now hopefully send a clear message to the leaders of both major political parties, who were so scared of losing the so-called environmentalists' votes. If ever such votes had any true value for the self-proclaimed environmentalists, then Alternativa Demokratika should have had a voice in Parliament for 18 years.
More importantly on this particular occasion the hunting federation (FKNK) did not think it appropriate to direct its members to vote for a particular party. The government just elected, now more sensitive to the wishes of an electorate of which hunters and trappers form a decisive chunk, will be more cautious on all matters, hunting included. It cannot afford to ignore the message behind an election result giving it just a wafer-thin majority. One lesson the new government has hopefully learnt is not to give too much importance to the bleating of people known for their extreme anti-hunting sentiments.
Hunters and trappers are the true environmentalists, the first managers of our natural habitat, and the best contributors towards what is known, to use a buzzword misunderstood by many, as biodiversity. I firmly believe that the EU Commission's mission statement to "halt the loss of biodiversity by 2010" will not happen in Malta if the hunting/trapping seasons are not opened, especially the traditional socio-cultural season of spring.
Popular Stories
In Discussion
4 Comments
Post comment
Please sign in or create your Account to post comments.
Robert Sultana
Mar 27th 2008, 19:20
Mark Grixti, you really think that all that's left of the countryside is solely due to the environmentalists !!! You must live in Never-never land alongside Shrek and Fiona.
Nyal Xuereb
Mar 26th 2008, 06:54
I think Mr. Grixti may be misinformed. Yes there are Eycaliputs growing in many areas, which I condemn, but as just one example, it is a fact that the hunters' federation takes care of Mizieb, which is full of Pines. Its only after a sunday that the place is filthy; full of left-overs of picnics and BBQ's. The government has no resources to take care of that amount of land. On the ownership issues, just go to the land's dept. and see for yourself how much land the gov. has left. Quite a bit in fact. Most of the countryside is private. Some individuals even own hundreds of Tumoli, and a few run into the thousands. One individual has a good portion of Bahrija that runs into thousands of tumoli. This area is visited by hundreds of ramblers, but if push came to shove, the owner has all the right to close it off to anyone, as happened in Ta' Cenc and Marsascala a few years back. The public has no idea of the very limited amount of countryside they can legally enjoy. It is unfortunate, but when invested loads of money to buy land, I don't think they are ready to just leave it as free for all.
Mark Grixti
Mar 25th 2008, 21:22
Malta is heavily urbanised and whats left of the country side has nothing to do with hunters, but environmentalists that are not into the killing of wild animals, putting pressure the goverment to preserve what is left of the Maltese country side. Wherever hunters are present one can see groves of Native Australian (!) trees called Eycaliputs. Wild flora uprooted to make way for nets to catch song birds and shabby "duras' often built with scrap metal and also concrete bricks making the 'dura's' cluster a true eyesore. What hunters understand by conservation is way beyond me!
Robert Sultana
Mar 25th 2008, 16:46
Well said,Mr.Farrugia. Agree totally with you,especially your last paragraph. Most rural areas still left in a pristine state due to being used as hunting grounds by their respective owners will end up going under the building industry's axe if spring is omitted from the maltese hunting calendar.