David Conlin's letter No Cause For Complacency For Bird Hunting (May 30) congratulated The Times readers who, according to him, pointed out my fallacies. So far, one Maurice Mizzi of Bidnija, whose bias on hunting is as best as it gets, wrote a letter (May 28) which was promptly shot down by several readers in the online comments section. Mr Conlin might be referring to just one more, sent in by his Facebook friend Andre Raine from BirdLife Malta, under the laughable title BirdLife Not Against Legal Hunting (May 15).

From the person who spearheads campaigns to ban all hunting in Malta, complacency is the last word expected in Mr Conlin's dictionary when it comes to hunting. As for my "fallacies", I will let readers decide where the real fallacies originate.

Using the few instances of illegal persecution of protected birds, Mr Conlin - together with his friends at BirdLife Malta, the RSPB and the Committee Against Bird Slaughter - invents stories about "massacres" and "slaughter" of Europe's wildlife supposedly occurring on Malta. He does this for the sole purpose of inciting the gullible among the public. He funds his operations at Proact, as also do CABS, from donations sent by those who believe their nonsense.

Mr Conlin's website, similar to that of CABS, of which he is the Malta operations director, lists a series of countries where the hunting illegalities mentioned make Malta's few illegalities look like a drop in the ocean. Yet, it seems none warrants petitions for a total hunting ban from Mr Conlin apart from tiny Malta.

Mr Conlin is the idea behind the island's foreign "ornithologist" invasion . He is instrumental in organising the stream of protest letters that have become the standard joke of every government ministry and EU entity. A life member of BirdLife Malta, as well as of the RSPB and CABS, his connections are clearly very close ( http://physis.pnw.fi/pipermail/ebn/2006-November/001506.html ). His own words "we're all on the same side" make it crystal clear that using his fallacies becomes the rule of the day.

But the best of Mr Conlin is the methods he uses to win public support. The online petition to ban hunting in Malta was worded in a way that would lead anyone to believe that what he petitioned for is part of the EU's position.

In the petition wording (www.petitiononline.com/malta06/petition.html) addressed to Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas, he asks "whether the EU will retain its firm stance on the matter of phasing out all bird hunting and trapping on Malta". Can he please specify what firm stance he refers to? Also this same petition shows his arrogance at achieving his aim: "Ultimately we demand that the EU Commission and the European Parliament take positive steps to officially observe, record and act on the excesses by Maltese hunters and the apathy, inaction or plain ineffectiveness of the Maltese authorities, and not relent in your aims and activity until Malta is a bird hunting-free zone".