CABS report further illegal hunting

Joe Xuereb

Sep 20th 2009, 01:57

I have always been lead to believe that a hobby should enhance one's life, give an uplift to one's spirit. An added bonus would be a hobby that draws admiration, one that enhances the life of others. Choosing a hobby merely for this extra, this adulation is, of course, not particularly worthy. If the choice is selfless, then an 'applauding audience' is just a stroke of luck, a good choice. As long as the choice is heartfelt and embraced, with no ulterior motives.

If, on the other hand, one's hobby attracts disapproval, an unfortunate, unlucky choice of hobby, then one should be prepared to accept some flack. As we say, we always have a choice.

Sylvana Zarb Darmanin

Sep 19th 2009, 16:43

"We are a population of approx. 400,000 and surely that we are not happy with having hunters around us". Your statement is quite presumptuous, Mr / Ms R Buttigieg! I and many other like myself are not bothered at all by the many law-abiding hunters around us!

R Buttigieg

Sep 19th 2009, 09:11

@ Kevin Galea. You are right to say that not every hunter acts as described in the article, yet for me you are not getting what this all boils down to. You said that there are 17,000 hunters and trappers. YELL: "WHO CARES?". We are a population of approx. 400,000 and surely that we are not happy with having hunters around us. You cannot compare your so called hobby (that is taking the life of a bird, moreover an innocent bird) with driving. This is so False. If you like aiming and shooting so much, you should go to one of the shooting ranges and start aiming at clay pigeons. Same thing goes for all hobbies that give excitement to individuals by the killing of any kind of animal.

steve busuttil

Sep 19th 2009, 00:34

Chris Finch,

Yes the real hunter can practice his hobby without breaking the law.

Your problem is that you cannot see the difference (or chose not to) between a hunter and a poacher.

Whatever you say hunting is here to stay just as it is in the UK, Italy, Spain, Germany (where there is a very big problem with illegal shooting of birds of prey) Hungary (who had the cheek to try and condemn Maltese hunters) and ALL other countries in the world.

Paul if pigs could fly many people in the UK would shoot them including the Queen.

V. Falzon

Sep 18th 2009, 20:27

@ Kevin Galea
Sure Kevin, but motorists don't ask to self-regulate either.

@ Julian Caruana
So I suppose all the hundreds of thousands of illegal birds in stuffed collections, and all the freezerfuls of illegal birds the police occasionally bring to light, all the ammount (sic) of injured raptors and herons that are rescued by BirdLife, all the swifts and swallows we find dead in the countryside, etc, I suppose these all happened to fly across those most elusive quails just when the innocent hunters squeeze the trigger. Are you for real?!

Joe Xuereb

Sep 18th 2009, 19:39

I do not have much of a head for figures but surely, seventeen thousand hunters in Malta is an exaggeration. Why cannot men go to the pub instead? Play cards, talk politics, wolf-whistle at passing trade, tease the barmaid, pull the parish priest's leg, drink some more. All in good spirit of course. And as long as they do not drink AND drive, and as long as they do not beat each other up and/or their wives/husbands/cousins, this would be an admirable way to pass the time. With not a shot fired. Hopefully.

s schembri

Sep 18th 2009, 18:42

They are shooting birds down when they know that they are being watched .. it does not take a lot of immagination to picture what goes on when they know that they are free to do what they like !
Thanks to the EU we will still be having the season open next spring .. what a shame !

Chris Mifsud

Sep 18th 2009, 18:14

I am against the hunting personally , but what i cannot stand is these foreigners coming to Malta and interfering in a country which is not theirs .

Why don`t they criticize the hunting that goes on in their own countries rather than coming here ? As usual Maltese always feel inferior when put up next to foriegners .

E.Portelli

Sep 18th 2009, 18:12

@Chris Finch
For the millionth time...those few individuals committing these crimes cannot be called Hunters.....!!!!!
I'm a law abiding hunter myself, and never went out hunting this Spring...it does not mean that I have to pay for these culprits.....may the ALE catch these meat heads and fine them accordingly...
Now I wish to make one simple observation Mr Finch..that although here in Malta many drug dealers and pushers are caught daily by the local Police Force...it doesn't mean that you and me are in the same business !!!!....so stop mixing Hunters with Poachers.
Poaching existed and will exist worldwide... more equipped police law enforcement officers are needed to curb this abuse.

Antoine Grima

Sep 18th 2009, 17:25

In other words , the CABS are useless.Lots of reporting , but no prof . With all the time and equipment at hand , CABS should be doing much better , but i think that they don't really want to catch anyone , they just want to paint a bad picture about the situation , especially now , after the ECJ verdict and the possibilty of an open season in spring .

J Oatmon

Sep 18th 2009, 17:16

It's pretty obvious some of these 'bird killers' (they are not hunters), don't give a stuff what anyone thinks, and will no obey any laws, that they dislike. In this case the only way to chnage their attitude, is very strong enforcement of the laws, and very severe penalties.

All the rest - the public indignation, the attempts to self regulate them by the law abiding bird killers, the conservationists hand wringing is all useless.
Of course with such a useless 'legal nonsystem' in Malta we all know the guilty will get 'suspended sentences' (naughty naughty), to allow them to continue their protected bird shooting well into the next century.

Paul Barrett

Sep 18th 2009, 17:07

@ Julian Caruana

A good point and well made.

However it would be nice if we could actually stop all ILLEGAL hunting.

David Borg Cardona

Sep 18th 2009, 16:42

A few isolated hunting incidents ,which occur in every country where hunting is practised, are definetely not the hundreds of incidents and massacres CABS claim to witness every hunting season. What is funny though is that in each hunting incident CABS never manage to pinpoint the culprit.
Armed with all their modern paraphernarlia they claim to have, it should be a piece of cake for them. Yet...... "CABS searched the area but neither the shooter nor his victim was found", "As the shooter was out of sight behind a ridge it was impossible to identify him" and "Again the rough terrain made it impossible to locate or identify the culprit or find the dead or injured bird. " Their "catch one, multiply by 10 methodolgy" is also again much in evidence when after apprehending 60 bird callers they then estimate that "several hundreds" are installed.
@ David Conlin & Axel Hirschfield... you are trying to insult the intelligence of the Maltese public by putting forward such press statements. Once again, you are adding fuel to a very hot issue. Then you expect a welcome with cakes and tea...

Chris Finch

Sep 18th 2009, 16:20

@ Julian Caruana,
Either you hunters are taking a zero tolerance approach (as claimed by the FKNK only this week) or you are finding excuses and apologies for illegal hunting. Even one shot bird of prey is one too many, and will give ammunition for the EU to deny Malta its derogation in spring that the hunters want so much. After all, if the illegalities can't be curbed now then how can they be in spring?

Again, given the number of so-called legitimate hunters out there, how come illegalities aren't being reported by other hunters taking a 'zero-tolerance' approach? Come on Lino, Mark, Andrew and all, put your money where your mouth is. Condemn these actions, ban these people from your clubs and report some illegalities yourselves, and not just the shooting of birds but illegalities such as, multi shot (over 5) shot guns, illegal bird callers etc.

Kevin Galea

Sep 18th 2009, 16:20

@Chris Finch First of all, please do not generalize. I am a hunter and a trapper that does not break the law and I condemn all illegal hunting and trapping. These are only 5 cases... for your information there are around 17,000 hunters and trappers. Can I ask if you drive? If yes, will it be fair if they ban all drivers from doing so, because of some irresponsable drivers? If all work and hobbies where to be banned when someone breaks the law, then in Malta both would be nonexistent.

Julian Caruana

Sep 18th 2009, 16:09

Considering the ammount of bird watchers located all over the island, condsidering the ammount of hunters in Malta I think the ammount of incidents represent a tiny percentage of total Hunters. A few birds of prey shot in a month is not the exagerrated figures given over the years by Birdlife Malta which ammount to hundreds of birds of prey every year. From the above article I would only consider the ones filmed beinng shot down as facts. How can these birdwatchers be sure the hunter was shooting at the buzzards and not a low flying quail??? I experienced this myself last week end, when we tought we witnessed a hunter shooting at a heron in actual fact the hunter shot at a low flying quail and the heron flew away frightened but unharmed.

I really hope the law courts make an example out of these cowboys ( illegal hunters ) and not let them get away with a fine..........

Paul Barrett

Sep 18th 2009, 16:01

@ Chris Finch

Is this not the year of the pig? (Swine flu) LOL

Chris Finch

Sep 18th 2009, 15:55

And the 'hunters' claim they can hunt in spring under 'strict rules'. Pigs might fly. Then again if they did, they would be gunned down.