Alert bird watchers lead to police seizing protected species

j cutajar

Sep 14th 2009, 20:44

Whether hunting is right or wrong or an outlet for the killer instinct..one thing it is not is a sport.
Sport is when individuals or teams compete against each other under equal circumstances to determine who is better at a given game or endeavor.Hunting will only be a sport when birds are given guns.As for it's a tradition,yes it goes right back to early man & cavemen.
Only some of them chose to develope & moved on.

Andrew Gatt

Sep 14th 2009, 20:19

@ May Cassar.........1. Actually, different firearms are used for different purposes. Competition shooting, air rifle competitions, clays and so on. (Yes, shooting in a wide variety of disciplines is an Olympic sport).
2. Apparently, in your view, there is no space for anything you disagree with. Your way or else! Prosit. The very essence of democracy and tolerance.
3. Regarding the Cassar issue, have you considered that it also may be a case of "the blind leading the blind" or "fools never differ"....... as they say?

Take your pick!

Edward camilleri

Sep 14th 2009, 20:16

@The local laws are there, they are HARSH and the penalites are severe. Better ask why it's always these nosey-parker abolitionists that always find illegalities that the police never seem to. Food for thought! by Andrew Gatt

I think you know better why police never see illegalities! to start with, when a police officer visits a site, every hunter informs the next one, and so on. Do you think this is right? Do you think that the 'legal hunters' are doing the right thing to defend their despecable hobby? Then blame it on birdlife when hunting restrictions are imposed.

Second, our politicians, both in government & in opposition, cannot see beyond the power of the vote! Else they would get out the army and anyone caught hunting/trapping illegally thrown in prison!

Anthony Formosa

Sep 14th 2009, 20:08

@ All Cassars, the uneducated are those who didn,t read well the pre EU accession package, and because you prefered to be called Europeans rather than Africans you rushed to vote for EU, and as they say only fools rush in. We will hunt and trap like any other country in EU and the world got it.

may cassar

Sep 14th 2009, 19:39

@ Andrew Gatt 1. Excuse my ignorance regarding firearms. To me they are all used for the same end. KILLING. 2.Regarding our imposing our beliefs on the Hunters / Trappers, YOU are doing the same on the majority of the maltese popuation in the most biased and undemocrate way. 3. As for the Cassar family being of the same opinion, as they say 'great minds meet', even though I don't know who C.Cassar happens to be. But I agree with him wholheartedly.

John Matthews

Sep 14th 2009, 19:02

Unlike what Birdlife maintained, spring hunting is indeed possible as confirmed by the court judgement. Birdlife's false statements were only intended to influence the public.

Andrew Gatt

Sep 14th 2009, 18:32

@ C Cassar...........excuse me, you seem to have missed my point completely about minority rights. Even convicted criminals and terrorists retain basic human rights in the way they are treated by modern society. And whether you like it or not, hunting (and note: I am talking about LEGAL hunting here) is pracised world-wide, across all borders and class barriers. Yet here you are, wanting to impose your beliefs on others in the most biased and undemocratic way. Extremism of all forms is to be condemned. As much as I detest illegalities pertaining to by hobby, let me assure you that I detest blinkered, holier-than-thou, name-calling attitudes like yours even more. You would be better served at directing your outrage to the Minister responsible to enforce the laws of the land, rather than making blanket accusations and insults!

C Cassar

Sep 14th 2009, 18:00

@Andrew Gatt: Thank you for proving my point. You quoted the rights of "gays, lesbians, immigrants, people of various faiths etc etc.". However, they don't promote the slaughter of any wildlife. They go about their business without having to kill defenceless and vulnerable wild animals. Still, keep you head in the sand and be left behind. Your attitude reminds me of those that turn a blind eye to polluting vehicles, those that dump rubbish in the countryside and those that like to destroy any sighn of progress. You're a very small group of jealous people who can't see Malta progressing with the rest of Europe because it will affect your selfish way of life (which is death to wildlife). As I have said before, your days are numbered and it's only a matter of time before all of this selfish, barbaric and arrogant activities are consigned to the rubbish dump of history.

Andrew Gatt

Sep 14th 2009, 16:43

@ Family Cassar (I sure you're related, as the comments are practicaly the same, and the reasoning is at the same level).............sorry to disappoint you but we use shotguns for hunting, not rifles. And your reasoning says more about you than anything else. A democracy respects the rights of gays, lesbians, immigrants, people of various faiths etc etc. You, apparently, do not. And as for bad habits, well, I class intolerance, extremism and bias as VERY bad habits, wouldn't you agree?

r sammut

Sep 14th 2009, 15:56

C Cassar
Where did you find such info about (non) hunting in Europe? Not only is it being done, but also on much larger scales all over the EU. In places 365 days a year! Why blame Malta hunters as barbaric, when hunting matters are even included in school curricula for children in EU states? Here we have just the opposite; the brain washing of the future Maltese generations!

M.Cassar

Sep 14th 2009, 15:42

@ Andrew Gatt

'Insulting thousands of Maltese citizens' indeed. I would really love to know the exact number of hunters / Trappers on this little island. If we have thousands of hunters, this is very alarming as it means that we have thousands of people going about carrying rifles ( I wonder how many soldiers we have in our army), on the other hand if we have also thousands of trappers, it means that we have thousands of people who have as yet have not caught up to the 21st centary. Who have not as yet learnt the meaning of progress and are still stuck with their bad habits, and living in the past.

C Cassar

Sep 14th 2009, 15:07

@Andrew Gatt: Hunting, trapping - both barbaric and out of date with modern soceity. Education has shown us this. Just as smoking is deadly, driving without a seat belt is deadly, making your children obese is both barbaric and deadly. The list goes on, it's called progress by education. The only people I'm likely to "insult" are the minority who are hunters/trappers (some of whom seem totally uneducated) unlike the majority of Maltese who are now happy to be part of a larger European soceity are fed up with the embarassment that these out dated activities cause.

The EU has a very large part to play since it publicises activities such as these across the whole zone. That's why you now get visitors from other EU countries coming to Malta to help stop the carnage. It's their right to do this as it is yours to travel to other EU countries and protest if you feel fit to. It works very well allowing a spotlight to be targeted onto the culprits. There's no where to hide anymore and the individuals involved in hunting/trapping realise this. They're time is up and not a moment too soon.

Andrew Gatt

Sep 14th 2009, 14:32

@ C Cassar.............yes, this is EXTREMELY surprising! I find it surprising that you refer to hunting when this article is all about illegal trapping of protected species. Where do you get off by insulting thousands of Maltese citizens with one sweeping, blanket accusation?

And what has the EU got do with it anyway? The local laws are there, they are HARSH and the penalites are severe. Better ask why it's always these nosey-parker abolitionists that always find illegalities that the police never seem to. Food for thought!

C Cassar

Sep 14th 2009, 13:55

Is this really surprising? Those that are still involved in hunting realise that they have been cornered by the EU. They need to realise that Malta is part of the EU whether they like it or not, it was was a democratic vote to join. We are now one community with everyone else in the EU.

The hunters are really showing they're complete lack of education, welfare and well being of the environment when they continulally act in this way. They won't change becaause they represent the worst in Malta but fortunately they are a dying breed (sorry for the pun). Within 5 years they will be by far the exception as education and ideas from the rest of the EU percolate into Maltese culture and extinguish such out of date and barbaric activities. Culture is always evolving and should never be seen to be a fixed entity and this can only enhance the Maltese culture for the better.