Farmers file judicial protest against BirdLife

Two full time farmers who till land in Dingli, have filed a judicial protest against BirdLife Malta over an incident on Sunday, the hunters' federation (FKNK) said.

The farmers said the the BirdLife volunteers trespassed farmers' cultivated land to carry out surveillance on illegal activities in connection with hunting. In so doing they walked across cultivated fields.

Despite having been warned to stop causing damage and to leave, the BirdLife personnel ignored them and persisted in roaming about the fields.

The farmers claimed that one of the BLM volunteers hit one of the farmers before the farmer could defend himself from the aggressor.

The farmers denied that they had been hunting and possessed shotguns at the place of the incident.

They called on BirdLife Malta to make good the damages caused.

In its statement, FKNK said no unauthorised person from either BirdLife Malta (BLM), or from the German group of CABS has any right to trespass on private property belonging to third parties. They also had no automatic right to take photographs or film individuals without the subject’s consent.

The federation urged its members to immediately report any breaches of their rights to the police.