Hunters prepared to pay for police escort to verify BirdLife claims

The St Hubert Hunters' Association reiterated today that it is prepared to pay for police escorts for BirdLife birdwatchers monitoring spring hunting, saying that this would facilitate the verification of claims made by the NGO.

Reacting to claims made by Birdlife Malta yesterday about the killing of protected birds, hunters hunting illegally and of a case of aggression, the association recalled that it had proposed to the government and the police that policemen should accompany any Birdlife Malta or CABS teams, and that it was prepared to pay for this police presence.

"Contrary to Birdlife allegations, the testimony of our field observers tallies with the very few incidents reported by the police and confirms strict adherence of regulations," the association said.

It added that the much publicized BirdLife reports, most of which, it said, were pure speculation, ultimately jeopardized the 'strict supervision' test required as part of the spring hunting derogation.

"We are aware of our obligations towards ensuring strict control of derogation and have through the fees collected from our spring hunting license contributed €280,500 towards better enforcement. Ultimately as stated by Birdlife Malta, a report of their findings will be sent to the European Commission being part of the third parties accepted by the Commission to oversee derogation. We too are third parties that will be reporting our observations with a marked difference that all our actions, unlike those of Birdlife Malta, are reflected in the results of a substantial police presence dedicated to oversee strict observance"

The association insisted that all reports presented by Birdlife Malta should be either officially denied or witnessed by a police officer.