BirdLife Malta today released the minutes of an Ornis Committee meeting held in February 2009, saying they showed that the FKNK had proposed a conditional ban on autumn hunting after 3 p.m. between September 15 and 30.

The FKNK proposed the ban on condition that the government opened the spring hunting season.

Andre Raine, BirdLife Malta’s Conservation Manager, said that the minutes unequivocally showed that the FKNK thought the ban was a good idea when it was lobbying for a spring hunting season.

"Now, however, they are denying this fact, possibly because they do not want their members to know that they actually agreed to the afternoon ban.”

BirdLife said the last fortnight of September, when the ban on afternoon hunting will be in place, coincides with the peak migration period for raptors (birds of prey). The ban is necessary to protect these birds which are especially vulnerable after arriving in Malta during September.

“Raptors are less vulnerable in the morning as they leave their roost sites, often under cover of darkness, and head straight out to sea. Anyone who has any knowledge of bird behaviour and migration will know that this is fact,” Dr Raine added.

BirdLife Malta questioned why the FKNK were so adamant to allow hunting when these prized birds were at their most vulnerable.

It said that it eceived 59 shot protected birds during the last autumn hunting season.

“If the FKNK were so concerned about law-abiding hunters, it would protect their interests by ensuring those who break the law have their membership withdrawn. We have yet to see any evidence of the ‘zero tolerance’ the federation keeps trumpeting about,” Dr Raine said.