The Federation for Hunting & Conservation this evening denied the existence of an agreement with the Malta Ornis Committee for the September afternoon ban on hunting to be introduced.

The federation was reacting to a statement issued yesterday by BirdLife Malta.

The FKNK insisted that this ban was not required under EU regulations and had only been introduced by the Maltese government.

"Since BirdLife’s birdwatchers attending the Raptor Camp, together with the police, are ensuring the birds’ safety during the evening and night, they should have no problem extending their guard throughout the afternoons. We refute the argument that an afternoon hunting ban is necessary to protect birds of prey. Birds of prey are protected by law anyway, mornings, afternoons, evenings and nights; and enforcement should be on a 24-hr basis. The crux of the matter is that the government should not cut corners to the detriment of law-abiding hunters," the federation said.

"The bottom line is that the September afternoons hunting ban is an unjust measure that penalizes bona-fide hunters unnecessarily, undermines the public’s trust in police ability at round-the-clock enforcement, and merely panders to BLM’s insatiable demands.

"Besides this, by imposing this ban government has yet again lost another opportunity to allow the FKNK the possibility to put in practice a ‘self-regulation’ system through its Marshals scheme," the federation said.

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