Birds for clay pigeons

It is with great sadness I note that Mark Mifsud Bonnici, secretary of a local hunting society, reflects the mentality of many hunters in being against clay target shooting (April 15). Does one really need scientific evidence to state that compact sporting clay shooting is being taken up by hunters abroad? Edwin Vella, as PRO of the Malta Shooting Sport Federation, is quite knowledgeable in this as he is more in contact with shooting federations worldwide and knows what is happening in other countries.

As regards clay pigeon shooting being considered as a suitable replacement for hunting, it may soon be the only option in a few years from now due to the dwindling avifauna, with many species even facing extinction altogether.

The positive thing in his letter is his statement that hunting is not a "competitive" sport, unlike what is usually stated by the hunting federation. But I have always heard hunters comparing the number and rarity of birds that they have blasted out of our skies! Although this butchering is surely not a sport, isn't that "competitive" enough?

Mr Mifsud Bonnici is one of the few hunters who gets excited taking his hunting dogs out to point and flush birds and not to enjoy killing them. Well, he can still do this any time during the year if instead of a shotgun he takes his binoculars with him. I am sure that this will satisfy his and his hunting dog's instincts just the same.

A few years ago on the TV programme Xarabank, one hunter, when asked why he would not take up clay pigeon shooting, simply answered that clay pigeons, when hit, do not ooze blood. I suggest that Mr Mifsud Bonnici should change his way of thinking and encourage all his members to join a clay pigeon shooting club like the one in Bidnija. Training in accurate shooting would at least make them better shooters and ensure clean kills instead of maiming birds and causing their slow and agonising deaths. The bad publicity for Malta all over Europe as exemplified by the illegal shooting, maiming and finally death of the rare booted eagle shot last year over Birżebbuġa is enough proof of this.

Finally, I suggest that he seriously looks into the possibility of producing a recipe for cooking clay pigeons, as I am sure that this is healthier than cooking shot game birds full of poisonous lead. One of the many toxic effects of lead, when it interacts with the acid in the stomach, is that it affects the brain permanently and makes people stupid.