'Them and us' in the countryside

Mark Mifsud Bonnici (Sharing The Countryside, April 5) asks me to explain how I equate progress and the modem world with the current hunting situation. I am happy to do just that.

In the "old days" nobody "walked for pleasure". Inhabitants tended to remain within the confines of their villages. Normal life was when neighbours, be they hunters, farmers, fishermen or those who just kept a few goats or chickens, mingled peaceably together without a second thought.

Then came the car, and eventually every family decided that it needed at least two cars per household. With the advent of so many cars (progress and the modern world) came ill-health, as exhaust fumes led to respiratory problems. Doctors urged us to leave our cars and take exercise, preferably walking.

Obviously, there is no benefit in walking along the fume-clogged roads and so we took to the country, as small as it is, and discovered that we enjoyed it. Around the same time, holiday-makers decided that they wanted more than to lie by a hotel pool every day and so joined the locals in countryside walks. Out of this, the pastime of rambling was born. Due to intolerance from the walkers and the hunters, the present situation of "them and us" was created. Unfortunately, while there are laws in place to control both sides, the ALE lacks the resources to manage either side effectively.

Walking, or rambling, is now classed as a social activity along with hunting, and needs to be sensibly regulated and carefully monitored. One comparison I must make is that of pedestrian maps. In many countries (not just the UK), the tourist authorities issue clearly-defined maps to distinguish between private and public land. Although many councils do their best, pressure should be brought to bear on the MTA and the Land Registry to compile and up-date such maps on a regular basis.

Such maps could be produced in court in cases of alleged trespass. A daub of red paint on a rusty oil drum is not good enough, nor is the excuse that because a person has hunted, trapped or picnicked at a certain spot for X number of years it is their right to continue to do so. Regarding the dead swans quoted by Mr Mifsud Bonnici, it is not shame that prevents me from mentioning them (nor am I too naïve to realise that illegalities occur in every country), but what happens in England is of little or no importance to me.

What affects me is here, in my adopted home, whether Mr Mifsud Bonnici likes it or not! Bigotry is obviously alive and well, as I am sure that my opinions would be viewed differently were my name to be Gatt, Fenech or Zammit, for instance.

Finally, as Mr Mifsud Bonnici attempts to guess my age in his last sentence, I should state that only a few years before I learned to walk, many Maltese hunters were being horse-whipped, having been caught poaching around Verdala and Buskett, by the Maltese nobility.