Saturday, 19th April 2008
Hunters call for open season
Joe Perici Calascione, hunters' federation PRO (centre) and other federation officials, addressing the press outside Auberge de Castille, Valletta, yesterday. Photo: Chris Sant Fournier.
Hunters and trappers, frustrated at not being able to pursue their hobby, yesterday appealed to the Prime Minister to open the spring season.
Joe Perici Calascione, PRO of the Federation of Hunters, Trappers and Conservationists (FKNK), said: "The Prime Minister would not be failing anyone if he opens the season, now that the European Court has not taken any decision on spring hunting, because it is obvious that there is no urgency as alleged by the European Commission".
The season has been kept closed pending a decision by the European Court of Justice but the federation is complaining that the matter is taking far too long and two weeks have already passed of what would have been the hunting season. To make matters even more galling for the hunters, migrating birds are said to have been seen in larger numbers than usual.
Addressing a press conference outside Auberge de Castille, the Prime Minister's Office in Valletta, Mr Perici Calascione said the federation had agreed with the government that all sides should respect the court and not appear to be trying to hinder it or apply pressure on it while it decided a European Commission application to ban spring hunting this year pending a final decision.
Such interim measures were only requested in matters of urgency, Mr Perici Calascione said, adding that the spring season was supposed to have opened two weeks ago and the court had not yet taken a decision. He asked why the court was being indifferent to the mental anguish of thousands of Maltese and Gozitans.
Every day that went by was a day taken from the life of hunters, who had been promised, in writing, by the Maltese authorities before the 2003 election that spring hunting would be allowed to continue. An appeal to the President of Malta to intervene on this matter had fallen on deaf ears, Mr Perici Calascione said.
The Prime Minister, he added, needed to objectively analyse the situation. The government had been elected by the people to, first and foremost, safeguard their interests. Hunters felt humiliated by what was happening to them because of foreigners. In the same way as their forefathers had done, the hunters felt that they should resist in order to protect their culture and tradition.
He accused BirdLife Malta of continuing to rub salt into the wound through a misleading publicity campaign.
"More than enough time has passed and we expect that the same respect we showed the European Court will be reciprocated, with the court appreciating that this delicate and urgent situation is affecting many Maltese and Gozitans. A decision should be taken without further delay.
"As a federation we are against illegal hunting. But the situation today is such that an injustice is being committed against hunters and, therefore, the federation is not in a position to condemn anyone at this stage particularly those hunting for quail and turtle dove.
"Is it possible that the judges (of the European Court) do not know that this situation amounts to psychological torture, which is hurting not only hunting enthusiasts but also their families and those around them," Mr Perici Calascione said.
Earlier this week the police made several arrests as BirdLife reported hunters being out in significant numbers.
Mr Perici Calascione reiterated the federation's invitation to the Prime Minister to discuss the situation.
Trapper Joe Abela from Mosta, who was at Castille Place, said the trapping season has been closed since March of last year. "We were promised we were going to be allowed to practise our hobby both by Europe and the Maltese government but we were betrayed," he said.
Another hunter complained they were being treated worse than criminals because every time they went to their fields, they would find the police asking what they were doing. "We are in a situation where we prefer not to go to our fields in order to avoid trouble," he said.
Hunters are also very angry at what they describe as provocation by the anti-hunting lobby. "BirdLife is provoking us by celebrating the continued closure of the spring hunting season," the hunter said.
Other hunters lamented that they were going through moments of uncertainty not knowing what they should do. "We are being deprived of our pastime and we are earnestly waiting for the season to open," one of them said.
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Comments
Obviously we are are invited to visit the countryside in muddy Winter and dry infernal Summer.
Just set up enclosed reserves and raise the birds yourselves - and let everyone enjoy the countryside (with birds) in peace.
If, as you wrote, hunters need much help because they insist their life (not existance) is part and parcel with hunting and trapping, I beleive you need much more help to learn and understand. I`ll stop there as I am in a hurry but we can take this up at another stage. There will occassions I am sure.....
Why do you keep insulting people's intelligence? By the Birdie figures my annual catch amounts to thousands, why then is my annual bag so meagre? I must be the poorest shot around! Going by the figures so licentiously displayed, Malta ought to have a steady income; hunting tourists and not the odd thirty head hunters of the Spring Watch camp.
Whilst I'm indulging in a good laugh, my appeal to you is, "Please don't keep fooling yourselves and everybody else!"
James and Joe, as members of the EU we simply want to apply a derogation, for our unique reasons, to shoot just 2 species (quail and turtle dove) for a month and a half in Spring. The UK applies umpteen derogations, for it's own reasons, foremost among which are the 24/7, 365 days a year shooting of woodpigeon, rooks, crows, jays, magpies, canada geese, gulls etc. (several are PROTECTED here!). 365 days a year - including Spring!! I don't see us as asking for anything different in the EU club. Truly, laws SHOULD be applied equally.
Ray, I am, (as you must have noticed! ;) ), a hunter. My bag is for the table, and very enjoyable it is too. You are obviously not, so we have to agree to disagree on this one. My intention in posting these figures is to get people to realise that the millions of birds we are supposed to bag each year are a complete fabrication. Comparing Malta to other EU countries, it also becomes very clear that they have varied and abundant bird numbers - resident AND migratory - while we do not and never will. Malta is a small, pretty barren island with limited countryside. We depend on Spring migration for any decent enjoyment of our pastime.
Andrew may not like this, but bird shooters and trappers in Malta come out the best per Maltese person. With a life expectancy in Malta of about 80, Bird shooters and trappers in Malta have been depriving each Maltese citizen of the enjoyment of approximately 80 birds. That's a very large opportunity cost on the Maltese citizen, Andrew. If this fact is not enough to make you think and to reconsider your position, then I am both angry and deeply saddened.
The killing of birds is wrong, wherever it takes place, and regardless of species. Birds are immensely beautiful and a brutish type of creature that fills people with utmost joy. They make us feel happy even when the chips are down, and happiness makes a community doubly productive. I wish to challenge not the Gonzi government, but every member of the Maltese parliament and all heads of institutions in Malta to take a stance on this issue all the way into Europe.
Country,Birds,Population,Per Capita
Malta,"397,690","407,000",97.7%
Greece,"10,025,871","11,147,000",89.9%
Cyprus,"669,250","855,000",78.3%
Ireland,"3,058,046","4,339,000",70.5%
France,"25,676,403","64,473,140",39.8%
Denmark,"2,150,265","5,475,791",39.3%
UK,"22,149,024","60,587,300",36.6%
Italy,"17,054,468","59,448,163",28.7%
Spain,"11,147,285","45,200,737",24.7%
Finland,"1,173,000","5,307,220",22.1%
Norway,"728,924","4,754,220",15.3%
Belgium,"1,175,326","10,584,534",11.1%
Czech Rep,"988,361","10,349,372",9.5%
Hungary,"688,910","10,043,000",6.9%
Netherlands,"1,022,300","16,423,027",6.2%
Sweden,"553,734","9,187,630",6.0%
Austria,"284,904","8,334,325",3.4%
Slovakia,"171,198","5,398,629",3.2%
Germany,"2,299,984","82,210,000",2.8%
Slovenia,"50,834","2,025,768",2.5%
Latvia,44261,"2,269,600",2.0%
Estonia,"21,804","1,340,600",1.6%
Poland,"284,490","38,115,967",0.7%
Luxembourg,"2,903","476,200",0.6%
Switzerland,"38,285","7,603,500",0.5%
Lithuania,"14,765","3,366,200",0.4%
Even more ironically, this same German activist organisation that reported the illegalities above has taken it upon itself to come to Malta to stop the barbaric Maltese bird killers from exercising their centuries old traditional Spring hunting!!!!! For QUAIL and DOVE, Mr Borg..............not poisoned raptors.
Düren: Massacre of birds of prey uncovered – bird No. 76 is an extremely rare Montagu's Harrier!
Between 01. and 03.04.2008 CABS members, in cooperation with the local police, discovered no less than 43 dead birds of prey within a 2 hour period in the area east of the town of Vettweiss-Disternich in the state of North-Rhine Westphalia . The dead birds included 31 Common Buzzards, 2 Red Kites, 2 Goshawks a Sparrowhawk.
In the past 15 months 76 dead birds of prey have now been found in an area only 4 square kilometres in size. The last was a Montagu's Harrier from a special CABS conservation project! This represents the greatest incident of raptor persecution in the whole of Europe in recent times.
I repeat I am no hunter, but two wrongs don't make a right. Some hunters are hunting illegally and Bird Life is blowing things out of proportion on foreign media. They are both acting immorally and they are both harming common law abiding people that are proud of Malta and do all their best to sell our product, like me.
Illegal hunting exists all over the world, like all crimes. All I said is that Bird Life and all of us should use other methods in changing the mentality of does not obeying the laws. Methods that are more effective and do not further damage our country's perception. I invite all to have a look at the administration of Bird Life, it is mostly made up of foreigners, for whom the long-term well-being of our country is not a main priority.
Good luck... and, just as Mr G C Forte advised below... try out other hobbies!
This will be good for reproduction of all species.
Is the hunting season really closed? I don’t think so, because if you go for a walk in our countryside, one can still hear sound of shotguns being fired. It’s high time that the real culprits are caught with the aid of our very efficient Administrative Law Enforcement Unit. Catch and withdraw the hunting license of those people who are, and will always continue to hunt illegally thus putting the best part of law abiding hunters in a bad light…..
The bag figures have to be calculated with the population of the countries
with Malta being so small in population we have a lot of dead birds
also ringed birds of prey shot in Malta had Finland and Norway rings which means they have flown over Europe without being shot by European hunters
it means mainland European hunters do not shoot protected birds like the vast majority of Maltese hunters do
Shooting bag figures by country
Annual shooting bag figures by country in the study area.
Austria 284,904
Belgium 1,175,326
Cyprus 669,250
Czech Republic 988,361
Denmark 2,150,265
Estonia 21,804
Finland 1,173,000
France 25,676,403
Germany 2,299,984
Greece 10,025,871
Hungary 688,910
Ireland 3,058,046
Italy 17,054,468
Latvia 44261
Lithuania 14,765
Luxembourg 2,903
Malta 397,690
Netherlands 1,022,300
Norway 728,924
Poland 284,490
Portugal n.a.
Slovakia 171,198
Slovenia 50,834
Spain 11,147,285
Sweden 553,734
Switzerland 38,285
United Kingdom 22,149,024
closed season yet hunting is still going on and not just shooting at quails and turtle dove but anything that moves also if hunters are suffering from mental anguish because the cannot kill birds thousands of Maltese suffer from mental anguish when the see the country side full of armed men with a provocative look and see defenceless birds blown out of the sky in the name of sports
So why are the hunters still in the dark?
All they want is a YES, as soon as possible, and they will keep their hobby, although now it may already be too late...
I guess they have learnt the lesson by now, and, as I have read from previous Birdlife activists' posts "will not shoot anything that flies". They just want the gamiema and summiena, both of which are not endangered species and have been sought for with passion for so many years!
Come on, let's forget all this hatred towards the hunters!
Remember, be it the highest authority, or the smallest person in the street, everybody is important and definately nobody should be ignored in such a way.
They can still breathe fresh air, appreciate nature around them, sensibly guide off any inadvertent ramblers on their land (if evidenced as theirs), and for those with a particular interest in birds - they can look at these creatures more attentively and closely with binoculars, getting and sharing the opportunity to observe their flight and habits, time and again.
So if this 'life' that some are having 'deprived' is only nutured with gunshots, lead and blood, then guess it is time to evolve.
One cannot escape the issue of telling and securing to those concerned that there activities will continue beyond EU memebership then fail to sustian one's words;
One cannot during such a social upheave, worsen the issue by letting foreigners watch over us such as is the case of foreign bird watchers. Does any true Maltese feel it is right to be subjected to such foreign arrogance? or are the rest of us all Jacks?
One cannot generalise because of few individuals, and be biased against a whole group of our society.
One cannot, such as in case of certain EU citizens, who approve abortion then speak out against such practices related to hunting;
Most realise that the hunting and trapping issue has and is still being mishandled by Government. It should work and seek remedies which in the end affect us Maltese. Why should we amongst ourselves cause such distress?
Thank God we are in the EU :)
I am not in favour of the few people calling themselves hunters, hunting illegally. But Bird Life is clearly blowing this out of proportions, there is many other ways to go. In my opinion Bird Life are as equally to blame about the bad publicity we are getting as much as those hunting illegally. But, hey, what do those people pulling the strings at Bird Life care about Malta, their one and only objective in life is to abolish hunting from our islands, anything else comes second. Wake up everyone, let’s deal with this issue in a more mature way, before things run out of hands...