The lizard that was

Joe Xuereb

Jun 19th 2010, 00:48

2) I remember a while back watching this documentary on British TV (where we have more than enough of the camouflage brigade and other naff hobbyists) about this naff hobby in Malta, ie hunting. This old geezer said,'il-Bambin holoq il-ghasafar biex ahna niehdu pjacir nghaddu z-zmien nisparawlhom'(Baby Jesus(sic) created them so that we can pass enjoy ourselves hunting them). The interviewer was lost for words so the old geezer's mate thought to chip in to break the embarrassing silence. He said, 'at least we don't spend our time down at the pub getting drunk'. Classic! I felt so embarrassed, watching this with non-Maltese friends - people to home bird-hunting is not part of life (even though it goes on in UK). But the UK is a comparatively big country so hunting does not look large in our lives. Malta is different. In Malta, everything is 'in yer face!'. But everything

Joe Xuereb

Jun 19th 2010, 00:32

1) Azzopardi, what you're saying is not unlike a victim of the Holocaust saying that Hitler - flavour of the week at the moment - was rightly punished for killing the Holocaust victim. Except that - the Holocaust victim can say no such thing because s/he is dead. I must admit, I don't know how many times I had to ready your letter Azzopardi - even in its brevity, thanks to a merciful god - before I got my head round it. And I love the little token you offer, quote: '(quite illegally, let it be understood)'. I love it! I love it! Aldo, I would NOT want to be in your shoes at the moment.

If this is the way hunters' brain cells operate, is it any wonder the hunting issue is nowhere near being resolved.
Allow me a detour. In Maltese we talk about the first very first Mass celebrated in any day, referred to as 'tal-kaccaturi' (Mass for hunters). So it's fair to say that - what shall we call them?! - these guys in camouflage first go to Mass and then go and kill birds.

continued

Albert Scerri

Jun 18th 2010, 10:13

Brilliant, Aldo. Keep thinking along those lines and we'll end up killing everything around us.....hang on a minute, we ARE doing that already !

JOHN RIZZO

Jun 18th 2010, 09:05

PROSIT ALDO AS ALWAYS.IT IS A PITY THAT SENIOR CITIZENS LIKE YOU WERE DENIED FROM HUNTING.

JOHN RIZZO (BUGIBBA)

A Attard

Jun 17th 2010, 20:12

Not to mention the extermination from our islands of the peregrine "Maltese" falcon which is said to be able to spot a rodent from hundreds of yards away!

S.Zammit

Jun 17th 2010, 19:13

Are you serious?This is a joke isn't it?
The local extinction of the sub-endemic species on St.Paul's Islands was not caused by ''raptors'' but RATS. Who knows maybe if our hunters would opt not to keep on shooting our birds of prey, in particular the Common Kestrel, then they can hunt rats lowering their numbers and leave our lizards in peace...

With the same argument why are there so many lizards on Comino?I have frequently seen Kestrels and Marsh Harriers hunting low over the garrigue in migration period....are the lizards on Comino going to become extinxt too because of raptors???
Get your facts right before you speak!

Charles Gauci

Jun 17th 2010, 18:37

Oh my, how intelligent Mr. Azzopardi is! I hope he survives this tragic loss because he seems to be so concerned. As already pointed out by others before me the lizards became extinct because of a heavy rat infestation. I suppose Mr. Azzopardi has heard of things called food chains and food webs. So I suppose he knows that if his fellow hunters had not exterminated the Barn Owl from our islands and if they had not mercilessly gunned down harriers and kestrels over the years, the rat population might have been kept under control. According to logic, therefore, hunters HAVE contributed to the lizard's extinction; and how!

V Falzon

Jun 17th 2010, 18:16

Such pearls of wisdom are excellent examples of the way the "socio-cultural" hunter's brain works.
And these people want to be taken seriously...

Robert Callus

Jun 17th 2010, 16:23

New species evolve regularly, and old ones get extinct regularly. Their is nothing wrong with that. It's natural selection. The problem with species getting extinct is through human intervention since now many are extinct en masse due to global warming, oil spills, overfishing etc. If it was extinct due to the greedy raptors their would have been nothing wrong. It definitely was not the case since taking their natural process, species do not disappear overnight.

M. Sammut

Jun 17th 2010, 16:15

It was rats that eradicated this subspecies and not raptors. Read carefully before you shoot at your own foot, excuse the pun.

carmel james

Jun 17th 2010, 15:47

issa vera missejna il-qiegh....

little knowledge is a dangerous thing, unfortunately this often reflects the mentality of the majority of the prohunting contributors....such comments does not even deserve a reply

Adrian Borg Cardona

Jun 17th 2010, 15:18

Next on the list for extinction is the fresh water crab "il-Qrobu"). This time we will know for sure the reason for its extinction: MePA permits and the building going on in Bahrija!

mark sultana

Jun 17th 2010, 14:38

Dear Mr Azzopardi

Please note that one of the biggest destructive animal which has damaged not only this lizard but even crops etc are rats. If the hunters held back from hunting birds of prey like the Kestrel (which following the spring hunting ban has bred every year on our islands), and the owl speceis in particular the once breeding Barn Owl, this inbalance in our eco system would have been avoided.

Do you still feel you want to cheer for the hunters? The damage hunting does to our small eco systems is immense.

K. Dimech

Jun 17th 2010, 14:16

Most probably the rats were aboard the vessel on which St. Paul was travelling and which was shipwrecked there.

joe falzon

Jun 17th 2010, 13:42

Gee, I didnt know that the raptors were selective in the lizard species they preyed upon!

J. Borg

Jun 17th 2010, 12:37

Kindly note that the lizard survived for centuries the apetite of raptors in the age when hunters did not use shotguns.
the lizard's fate was sealed when rats invaded St. Paul's Islet - and the "authorities" dragged their feet to address this.
One also needs to assess whether the polluting fish farms a stone's throw away from the islet also contributed indirectly to the lizard's extinction.
Thus, no brownies to (illegal) hunters as yet!

Jason Borg

Jun 17th 2010, 12:03

Mr. Azzopardi - are you trying to justify illegal hunting? This species of lizard became extinct because of rat infestation on the islets and not because it was preyed upon by birds. So your dear hunters never did and never will do anybody a favour by gunning down birds. What a silly letter!

Richard Cachia Zammit

Jun 17th 2010, 11:18

Mr Azzopardi, it was rats on the island that brought the demise of the lizard so maybe the black sheet amongst you might have had a say in this as well as the raptors that they shot illegally would have hunted rats as well :-)

Jason Scerri

Jun 17th 2010, 10:35

The ecosystem managed to sustain both species for thousands of years so I'm sure it wasn't the birdies fault .
Unfortunately, recently it has emerged that a lot of reptiles and amphibians are going extinct all over the world for mysterious reasons.

Willam P Flynn

Jun 17th 2010, 10:15

What an extraordinary thing to say. The raptors have been coming to Malta most likely since Malta became an Island - many thousands of years. A predator doesn't wipe out a prey they evolve in an "arms race" so that can almost never happen.

If you want to find the reason for the disappearance of the lizard I would say one would need to look elsewhere - rats?