Birdwatchers find 'massive' trapping site

Joe Xuereb

Sep 18th 2009, 16:12

Apologies for spelling mistakes in my previous comment but I shoot from the hip. I think (very easy as I am a rational human being), I type (easy but erratic) and I submit. I have a life.
Without getting into when and after what hour shooting - because that is what it is - is not permitted, can somebody please tell me why shooting IS permitted before the watershed time, whatever that is?

Joe Xuereb

Sep 18th 2009, 16:02

@ J. Cutajar. I like your sense of irony, your humour. Of course I know you would not shoot my budgie. As if I would keep one - changing nappies is bad enough but at least it is necessary. No J. I do not thing you would shoot a budge. You are not the type to take revenge and vandalise, and desecrate, someone who would shoot a sitting duck, waiting for her eggs to hatch. What do you mean that couldn't happen? Of course it does. And worse.

Marianna Galea Xuereb

Sep 18th 2009, 15:08

@ f vincenti

“You can join a shooting club and become Malta's next Gold Medallist or….”

f vincenti may mean well but the fact is that many “hunters” or rather poachers of protected bird species are using their shooting club membership as a convenient way of illegally hunting protected species, hunting in the closed season and hunting beyond the allowed time during open season. They hurry inside the shooting club at the first sign of “trouble” rather then hide their guns under trees, bushes or piles of rubble etc. That way there is less risk of the guns ending up confiscated or damaged or stolen by opportunists from its hiding place.

David Borg Cardona

Sep 18th 2009, 13:38

@ Marie Claire Camilleri...

Ehhh ?????????? Are you serious ??????? Just for info's sake, please note that hunting is not permitted after ONE o'clock only on Sundays and public holidays and from 15.00 hrs onwards from the 15th to the 30th of Sept. Please get your facts right before posting such comments on the national newspaper. But nowadays, this seems to be the norm with all the blinkered anti's.

Clayton Borg

Sep 18th 2009, 13:06

@ Marie Claire Camilleri

Please be informed that hunting is upto 1500 during weekdays up till the 30 September and till 1300 on sundays and all public holidays.

Marie Claire Camilleri

Sep 18th 2009, 11:44

Please note that hunting after 12 noon is illegal. Anyone noticing hunters doing so after this time please call ALE .

f vincenti

Sep 18th 2009, 10:41

To the non-Law abiding folk - please don't call yourselves "hunters". Call yourselves indiscriminate eradicators of rare and declining world species. Call yourselves immature, ignorant & selfish. And stop saying that hunting is a tradition. It is not. It was a basic need for 'hunter/gatherer man' all long before farming started. Wearing an 'Ghonella' was also a tradition wasn't it. The world has changed and the environment is dying. Are you so proud to be a part of it's demise? Please get with the programm and realise that the planet can no longer sustain your ''hobby'', as much fun as it was. How about a new hobby? You can join a shooting club and become Malta's next Gold Medallist or take up protecting rare species as they fly thru? Now that's something your kids can be proud of you for! It is no longer the 1500's, it is 2009. We can't go around shooting or trapping simply because we feel like it. I don't wear an Ghonella by the way, not because I don't feel like it, but because the style is rather passe'. ;-)

Sylvana Zarb Darmanin

Sep 17th 2009, 19:48

Mr/Ms J Cutajar, indeed your comment is "a masterpiece of logic & creative thinking"!! Hunters practise their traditional pastime within the parameters of the law (including Spring Hunting now) WHEREAS what you are suggesting is illegal and considered a criminal act! Just dare shoot at my two dear dogs and you will have to face the consequences, Sir/Madam!! Poaching is bad but what you are suggesting is even worse. It appears that your disappointment to the ECJ ruling has precluded you from commenting in a reasonable manner!!

julian caruana

Sep 17th 2009, 15:17

@ Mr James Formosa.

wise words. I like you reasoning it will only happen in an ideal world not the one we live in not in Malta...

Joe Xuereb

Sep 17th 2009, 13:09

C. Sammut. This bird thing is a status symbol you ask. It is a symbol of 'state-of-mind' popularly known as bird-brain condition.
Los Angeles - four million less whatever souls. Malta - half a million less whatever souls. I am not a statistician, not a mathematician, I am not into numbers. Given that, I would guess that the crime rate in both locations, without arduous checking of numbers, levels out. Considering of course the thousands and thousands of murdered feathery friends. And without doing the maths, as I said, for all I know, the crime rate in Malta is lower than LA's. Good on you Malta! For all I know it could be higher. Plus the fact that LA, in spite of its name, does not claim paradise status. Whereas Malta claims to be nearer to paradise and hierarchically, even on a higher rung than the Vatican.
Let us assume that for a moment that most bird-killers - sorry! that is what it is - practise their so-called pastime legally. Fact remains, why kill birds? Does bird-brain come into it at all maybe?

S Vella

Sep 17th 2009, 12:56

@ J Bonnici
Dont generalise!
They is PLURAL. I am a hunter not a poacher and never got cought poaching so dont put everyone in the same basket!! That is why we have laws in Malta like the rest of civilised countries so that those who break them, and are cought, rightly so get the penalty. But I am sure you do not agree with being punished for crimes other people commit!!

j cutajar

Sep 17th 2009, 12:22

@ P. Farrugia........a masterpiece of logic & creative thinking.... let's all go around shooting for fun any animal or pet we see. , some can even get to call it a hobby

P. Farrugia

Sep 17th 2009, 11:16

If we condemn killing of birds and then eat meat 3-7 times a week, if we talk as if we are environmentally friendly and leave the air conditioner on or else switch it off just because we cannot afford otherwise, if we try to mask these actions and make ourselves believe these actions are justified and are exigencies, and then from our cozy environment we take the pleasure and practice our ‘hobby’ of blaming others deeds, I think we can call ourselves hypocrites.

louis zammit

Sep 17th 2009, 10:22

yes we all have a hobby...my hobbie is to see these BIRDS flying around in peace...and not when i see one my heart goes ejja fly away BEFORE THEY SHOOT U... and stuff u......we all have hobbies....so let these birds fly and be enjoyed by all of us

James Formosa

Sep 17th 2009, 10:03

R Magro - its 2009 for pete's sake..... you can actually buy your food not shoot it out of the sky. But if you insist on calling quail or turtle dove hunting a hobby so be it... my problem isn't with hunters... its with ppl who call themselves hunters and go on shooting kestrels, honey buzzards, bee-eaters, etc. They're the enemy of both bird lovers & hunters alike. When the hunters/FKNK and CABS, Birdlife, etc fight against illegal hunting/trapping on a common front?? All parties stand to gain from this... but then again who are we kidding?

Eric Camilleri

Sep 17th 2009, 09:51

What baffles me is why we don't get names of these culprits mentioned on the newspapers. In cases of illegal hunting and trapping we get all forms of nouns and adjectives except the names of the accused and the guilty. Any other crime including general petty offences gets the names splashed on newspapers, yet lo and behold in the case of illegal trapping and hunting we hardly ever get to see the "name and shame". Why ? Is there some policy down the lane to have it that way so that its suits the objective of collective guilt and consequently to tarnish the image to all law abiding hunters and trappers ? Even if you read some of the comments below one can see this hammered trend, where the finger is not pointed at the accussed but instead there is a cowardly tone of generalised accusations and as usual some seem very comfortable with that and hope that it never actually changes.

Cesco Bonello

Sep 17th 2009, 09:51

To Mr R.Magro.... cant but help pointing out the irony of his closing phrase... live and let live....

j cutajar

Sep 17th 2009, 09:28

What happened to all the insults directed at EFA, Gonzi & EU. ?????
Already 2 mishaps in 1 week.....hunting is plagued with a cancer that will be it's very own demise.
It's the hunters themselves that will ban hunting......all EU did was get you off their backs.
So much for being taken for a ride..

R Magro

Sep 17th 2009, 08:14

Everybody deserves to have a hobby....more than a hobby its a passion for some aswell !!!.....
so please stop with your stupid comments and be open minded...its 2009 for pete's sake!!

LIVE AND LET LIVE PEOPLE!!!

barry hayes

Sep 17th 2009, 07:27

it has always amazed me why a man would want to shoot a little bird in the sky

Antoine Grima

Sep 17th 2009, 01:42

BIRDWATCHERS THAT WATCH EVERYTHING BUT BIRDS.SHOULD AT LEAST CHANGE THEIR NAME

mark sultana

Sep 16th 2009, 23:37

@ mario salnitro

You tell some, maybe even to me, to cool it, but it seems you're the one really heated up. Don't want to meet you with a gun in your hand...and hopefully that would be illegal in spring.

I guess you are one of the law abiding hunters. Most probably you deplore those who hunt illegally. The usual rethorical defensive statements all hunters place in this blog...seems you are trying to convince yourself rather then the rest of the readers.

buona giornata...that's being polite.

Andrew Gatt

Sep 16th 2009, 22:06

If found guilty, the Courts should sentence accordingly. This is 2009, not 1900 and anyone who hasn't yet woken up and smelt the coffee deserves all they get.

What I can't understand is how a 4 TUMOLI site can operate apparently unmolested on a tiny 17 mile by 9 island. For pete's sake it should have been visible from Sicily!! Can the Minister responsible please explain to me, a law-abiding hunter, why should it be such a big deal to enforce the law? All we've been getting are collective punishments for the actions of a minority who seem to be untouchable. It seems not much is done, and as soon as foreign and local anti-hunting organizations start some Camp This and Operation That, all hell breaks loose in the press.

Or is there some policy or agenda that I'm missing here?

J. Borg

Sep 16th 2009, 20:46

@ Johnny Xerri

"For 10years I have been out hunting...."
and I have seen protected birds shot down .....times, and reported the culprits to the police giving the details about their hideouts and car registration number ...... times.

Neil Deguara

Sep 16th 2009, 20:45

Go check near Pembroke, under the tower... :)

mario salnitro

Sep 16th 2009, 20:17

dear mr pace, we will keep on hunting during the open season and no one is going to stop this tradition not you or anyone.
in fact as i said before it was confirmed by the media we will hunt again in spring, it was only a matter of time the truth came out.
it was only because of the incompetence of certain persons that we have not hunted during the last 2 years.

so cool it and enjoy hearing the gun shots!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ALLA FACCIA DI CHI CI VUOLE MALE!!! CIAO CIAO

Daniel Delia

Sep 16th 2009, 19:13

We will have another loophole if spring hunting for turtle dove and quail is allowed. This is what hunters are hoping for. While out hunting for turtle dove and quail they will point their gun at other species as well. The above article is proof in advance. I think we will need CABS all year round!

Edward Camilleri

Sep 16th 2009, 18:54

What a surprise! No one has seen this massive trapping site before being used, neither hunters nor other trappers! Everyone is innocent. And obviously the police, but everyone knows by know that they have been turning a blind eye to this disgusting hobby.

It has to be birdwatchers who find such sites, the same people that are 'forbidden' to visit the countryside because there is always the possibility of a shower of pellets!

Charles Caruana

Sep 16th 2009, 17:56

Ahjar il-pulizija jiffukaw fuq il-hnizrijiet li jsiru ta kuljum il-Marsa bil-garr ta klandestini go vannijiet qishom qzieqez biex jiehduhom jahdmu f'kundizzjonijiet ta lsira milli jahlu l-hin ma hmerija bhal din!!!

John Matthews

Sep 16th 2009, 17:23

At least Birdlife have rightly accused "poachers" (last paragraph) and not blamed bone fide hunters/trappers or FKNK members.
If accurate information is put forward by any party, their credibility can then be assessed by the general public.

mario nicholas pace

Sep 16th 2009, 16:24

As usual the same arrogance from hunters and trappers who think that they can shoot and capture whatever they like. I just hope that the government will not let them murder any more birds,atleast not in the Spring seoson. One can only come in Siggiewi and Qrendi and see hunters that are shooting down whatever moves. I myself saw them shoot down bee eaters which were gracing our skies with their amazing plumage. I also urge the opposition not to continue defending these hoodlums in breaking the law.

C.Sammut

Sep 16th 2009, 15:45

But what is it with Maltese men and birds in cages???? Is it a status symbol or a money making incentive? Perhaps someone can illuminate me...

m attard

Sep 16th 2009, 15:34

The trapper should be arraigned and given a penalty which is harsh enough to make him twice before committing the same crime again. The same as should happen whenever other illegalities occur. If the person is a member of any shooting club in Malta, then the club should publicly announce that membership has been revoked and that he would not be allowed to join any other club in Malta.

@ J Bonnici
comments lilke your help no-one. Who is 'they'? How can you lump everyone together in one bag?

Jason Borg

Sep 16th 2009, 15:34

What is the FKNK waiting for to offically condemn this acts?

H.R. Druppa

Sep 16th 2009, 15:22

Some people, still i reckon we should give these guys a medal for their hardwork don't you?, but then ofcourse most poachers really do want to get caught and fined, is the maltese way of life and hard mentality i guess.

J.Bonnici

Sep 16th 2009, 15:07

They'll never learn.

C. Lia

Sep 16th 2009, 15:02

Put the owner of this trapping site for a couple of months in a 4mx4m cell on bread and water just to realise what the birds he traps go through.