Ramblers urge MPs to support opening of countryside campaign

Dr Francis Saliba

Jan 21st 2009, 21:46

@Anthony Formosa

Hunters do not have the right to exercise their dangerous pastime in such a way as to appropriate for themselves uncultivated government property, exercise a non-existent right to erect barriers across traditional "rights of way", construct hide-outs, endanger and intimidate members of the public by their fierce dogs and shotguns - not to mention trespassing in the cultivated fields of others and damaging crops in their mad chase of anything that flies, protected or not whether in or out of the legal season. I speak from a personal experience that is shared by many other people who care.

Anthony Formosa

Jan 20th 2009, 14:33

@ Dr Francis Saliba, if you read my comment well I said private property, and even if the land is leased to farmers who also happened to be hunters, no one has the right to enter even other hunters. As for public land, hunters have the right to exercise their past time as long as they pay their hunting license and abide by the distances, other places like Mizieb and Mellieha are protected and managed by FKNK. However if you wish to know how much recreational land costs, simply visit one of the property agents and you'll be surprised. So please when you see Private Property, RTO, Keep Out, try to respect the owner.

Rita Spiteri

Jan 20th 2009, 13:12

I can have a country view in the back of my house does that mean my house has to be no more then 1.20m high so everybody can enjoy it

J Demicoli

Jan 20th 2009, 12:06

Everybody has a legal right to enjoy what is his. Nobody has ever asked for that. But let us not delude ourselves; country view/s, is nobody’s property, hence the fairness of lowering boundary walls exceeding 1.20m high. Likewise, in anybody’s private property, a ‘right of way’ would render that part ‘common’, to all-and-sundry or to the privileged according to agreement.
That's the Law! whether you like it or not........

R Muscat

Jan 20th 2009, 12:06

Jason Azzopardi and Chris Said, I personally reported abandoned vehicles and other rubbish in the fields behind and adjacent to F Ximenes Str L/O Naxxar.
Besides being an eye sore they are also a hazard, construction material with rusty metal has been dumped illegally across a foot path which means that school children are constrained to walk along the coast road in an area were there is no sidewalk.
The reports were done to your ministries and the Naxxar council who incidentally did not even know that there was a scheme to collect dumped cars, oil drums etc. To date the rubbish is still there.
When will action be taken? Maybe when we have yet another tragedy and some poor child is hit by oncoming traffic!

Rita Spiteri

Jan 20th 2009, 11:30

Next we will be asking people to leave their curtains open because we have the right to look into their house and while they're at it switch on the lights so we can have a better view.

Dr Francis Saliba

Jan 20th 2009, 10:58

@Anthony Formosa

Could you please clarify how many millions of euros are being paid to the Lands Department ,and by whom, for the confiscation of huge areas of government owned land appropriated for the exclusive benefit of gun-toting hunters to the exclusion of the rest of the public?

My own experience is of hunters and their dogs trespassing in the cultivated fields rented by farmers paying their dues to the Dept. of Lands and too intimidated to protest about damage to crops!

malcolm said

Jan 20th 2009, 10:51

yes you are right..... thumbs for the ramblers but DOWN!!!!
Keep out from private property ramblers and co.

E.Camilleri

Jan 20th 2009, 10:46

While abuse of land is to be condemned, I do not trust the Ramblers Assocation's unclear agenda. I would never accept anyone trespassing over my property. What right do I have to walk through your property, owned or leased ? What doors will RAM leave open if they have it their way ? In my weekend walks I come across people wandering into any countryside and they leave behind nothing but garbage and destruction. No rubble wall is left intact. Branches are broken in all pathways and when the quest for fire comes up the easiest BBQ medium are branches, irrespective if from dead or healthy trees. Crops are treaded on indiscriminately, while children with sticks wreck havoc at anything upright and are never admonished by their parents or accompanying adults. Maybe RAM should do better at starting an educational campaign before wanting to let loose.

While a lot of issues need to be rectified in this sector, for the sake of correctness and rights I wonder how the MPs concerned would feel to be forced to open their homes for us to Ramble through at our leasure.

a sultana

Jan 20th 2009, 10:38

thumbs for the ramblers

Anthony Formosa

Jan 20th 2009, 10:03

The Ramblers ass where one of those instrumental to ban hunting and trapping for the simple reason to have easer access, as far as everyone is concerned the countryside is open for everyone except for the private areas, I do not pretend that if someone pays a lot of money for a piece of land whether for hunting, trapping or farming will give the right for anyone to enjoy, what the ramblers will ask next, to chain our dogs or to stop shooting until they pass. This is ridiculous, it seems that we're heading to the communist era, those who own nothing they'll have the right enjoy more than the owner. It is already enough that mainly on Sundays afternoon people enter where ever they please, damage the walls, chop off tree branches to make BBQs and leave a mess behind, will the MPs take responsibility?
With the same argument of the ramblers, than we can all have access for free to private pools, private car parks, private gardens, private beaches, etc.