Hunters complain of poor bird migration season

Charmaine Marmara'

Nov 13th 2010, 12:33

well said !!!!

r sammut

Nov 11th 2010, 19:03

Please note Mr/Ms A Xerri, turtle doves and quails have not been shot for the past three Springs! Now as birds passed Malta without being disturbed to breed, one would have expected/hoped to see a boost in Autumn bird numbers! For the past three years numbers were no different than all other, no increase whatsoever!

Our Spring hunting will not make that difference in bird numbers. The percentage losses in bird migration due to natural causes as storms and bad weather is much much higher that those taken in our Spring. That is one other crux point about consenting Malta derogation.

Manwel Borg

Nov 11th 2010, 19:47

@ A Xerri
in case you forgot, there was no spring hunting in 2008 (interim measure by the European Court of Justice), no spring hunting again in 2009 (same reason), and no spring hunting in 2010 (ridiculously short 'season' of 6 mornings!!! boycotted by the hunters).
Therefore, there was a closed spring season for 3 years after each other.
By your reasoning there should have been plenty of turtle-doves and quails last September, after three hunting-free springs. But the facts are different, and prove that your reasoning in this case is wrong.

RMangion

Nov 12th 2010, 08:19

@ R Sammut & Manwel Borg,

Yes, then how come the season was closed and you still heard gunshots ? Come on lets not try the " good boy following the rules attitude" We know that illegal hunting still goes on

r sammut

Nov 12th 2010, 13:17

@R Mangion
Also drugs are illegal but it is one of the worst problems Malta is facing!!! As was in the days of the alcohol prohibition in America, many gangs thrived to supply it underground! SO???

M. Cardona

Nov 11th 2010, 16:16

No R C Conti they're not and neither are we any longer.

Andrew Gatt

Nov 11th 2010, 16:36

C Cassar, may I recommend you stay out of this debate since you clearly have nothing AT ALL of any substance or sense to contribute.
For your informatont is scientifically proved and conceded by all serious birding organizations that habitat loss, pesticides, intensive agricultural practices, loss of hedgerows and pollution are the main reasons for dramatic declines in some bird populations. NOT HUNTING. Usually caused by the same countries whose activists then target tiny Malta for all sorts of camps, campaigns, victimisations and exaggerations.

"Massacre huge populations of wildlife"! Isma l-iehor! Whaddaya think we're living in- a tiny 17 miles by 9 miles arid rock called Malta or the friggin' Amazon rainforest?

Honestly, where do you lot get your ideas from?

C Cassar

Nov 11th 2010, 17:25

This isn't my "idea", it's fact. Those still stuck in the past who refuse to join the 21st century continually blame everything else apart from themselves. Who are those with the "smoking gun"? The so called "hunters". Actually, the description of "hunter" isn't quite fair. That's reserved for those who need to hunt for food in order to survive. What we have in Malta is a bunch of cowards taking pot shots at defenceless wild life that does not belong to them.

Well, enjoy your birdless skies, it's all your own making.

M. Cardona

Nov 11th 2010, 16:16

Mr Jason Borg,

do hunters also shoot at the following birds; Sofor, dizzijiet, bilbla, kalandra, durrajsa and thats to mention but a few? Yet where are there previous numbers?

Going by your same argument ie "Lanqas pespus ma jhallu ghaddej", there wouldn't have been the need for any crocodile tears for the pruning of trees last week followed by the claim of some 7000 wagtails! Please decide either or!

By the way do hunters also shoot the swallow tail butterflies? Cause I rarely see them any more?

Johann Cutajar

Nov 11th 2010, 13:46

....and people with your same ideology say that it's not hatred towards hunters! So you're bothered because hunters shoot a couple of tens of starlings but you don't give a honk when personnel at our airport poison hundreds of starlings, and other birds, leaving them to die slowly on the ground!! Some people I can't understand, others are just a case of no come back!

E Gatt

Nov 12th 2010, 09:27

Mr. Cutajar, for your information I too was a hunter many years ago and still pay a licence to keep my shotgun, however I desist from being associated with the so called hunters of today and who go about shooting at everything that flies, whether these birds are indeed protected or not.
As to your claims that MIA employees are poisoning starlings, this seems to be news meant to generate hatred more than anything else, unless you can of course prove otherwise. MIA had invested much in bird scaring equipment - so kindly provide us readers with hard evidence, or simply shut up.....