The news item German Committee To Send "Bird Guards" To Malta can be considered as the ultimate case of hypocrisy ever reported this year.
The purported reason for these people coming to Malta is "to monitor illegal hunting hot-spots and to record bird migration data".
As the name of this German group, Committee Against Bird Slaughter (CABS) implies, their interest is not of any scientific value and recording migration data does not form part of their activities; it is only quoted in order to cover up their true intentions and to make their mission seem credible.
The connection between Malta and these people is a person by the name of David Conlin. Mr Conlin, apart from being a member of CABS, runs a society called PROACT that is basically an anti-hunting nuisance campaign setup.
I am sure all our ministers and MEPs know the effects of this nuisance. Mr Conlin is also a full-life member of Birdlife Malta.
This whole setup is intent on exposing and amplifying whatever they can in terms of illegal hunting in Malta.
At face value this seems noble and acceptable. But when one takes into consideration the words of the EU's Environment Commissioner, when he stated that he wants to make an example out of Malta, then the reason behind all these spring watches and raptor camps becomes more than obvious.
The pressure being put on our islands by these people is purely intended to cast a bad light on us Maltese.
Unfortunately our government seems to have feebly given in to this pressure, to the anti-hunter's delight.
Being more intent on saving face, shamefully, the government chose to ban hunting during the raptor migration period rather than to tackle the problem and eradicate it. In order to amplify the hypocrisy of this Bird Guard circus being held in Malta, I quote an article from CABS' own website which is headed: Düren: Now 83 Dead Birds Of Prey In 15 Months! (www.komitee.de/en/index.php?massacre_dueren) and which reports on what it says is "Europe's largest ever raptor massacre", uncovered by CABS.
"This series of incidents is the largest such case of illegal bird of prey persecution for many years in Germany, perhaps even in Europe.
"It is hard to say what long-term damage has been done to the otherwise species-rich bird life in this area."
If indeed, as they reported, "Europe's largest ever raptor massacre" occurred in Germany, what might I ask are they doing in Malta?
CABS are a group of people that consider any form of hunting as "slaughter".
They do not tolerate any form of hunting. Consequently, the most worrying factor is that they do not distinguish between what is legal and illegal.
They are an extremist element that is totally undesirable in our islands.
The fact that in their call for volunteers for their Maltese holiday they requested skills in confrontation, should be a good enough reason for these bullies to be told exactly where to go to act as bird guards.
It is nothing short of disgust-ing that such people are welcomed by the government and our law enforcers with open arms.
Hopefully, exposing what goes on in their own country might make the authorities realise they are being taken for a ride by these deceitful people and their Maltese cronies Birdlife Malta.