Taking aim at legal rabbit hunting (1)

In the letter BirdLife Not Against Legal Hunting (May 15), André Raine, Birdlife Malta's full-time biologist, makes BirdLife's position on legal hunting perfectly clear. "I wish to make it very clear that BirdLife Malta is not against legal hunting as permitted by the Birds Directive. I hope that these various individuals finally get this very basic message, as it is one that we have already publically stated on numerous occasions."

It took just 17 days for them to prove that whatever BirdLife Malta says can never be trusted or believed. On conclusions reached by the same Dr Raine, BirdLife Malta is now asking for a ban on the legal shooting of wild rabbits.

Being one of the most ancient and popular forms of hunting in Malta, rabbit hunting is conducted primarily as a form of pest control where all the rabbits shot certainly do not go to waste. It comes as no surprise that due to its prolific status, the rabbit has for centuries featured as one of Malta's main culinary delights. Malta happens to be one of the few countries that have a specific season for rabbit shooting since all other countries hunt this agricultural pest all year round using any means possible in order to eradicate it. Rabbit hunting is totally legal in Malta, yet BirdLife Malta also wants this form of legal hunting banned.

The same article carries a photomontage of a rabbit bearing eagle wings. How very appropriate, it seems that all things related to BirdLife have wings including their statement about accepting legal hunting. Who can ever believe what they say?