CABS video shows Maltese shooting rare birds in Egypt

Steve Zammit

Feb 15th 2012, 17:43

Learn your facts....the birds that appear in the video are all protected and are not even game anywhere around the world....

Joseph Micallef

Feb 14th 2012, 11:41

Simple response to your non-argument...one wrong does not justify another wrong!

G Caruana

Feb 14th 2012, 11:53

I'll give them the benefit of the doubt , maybe they went to do some conservation work in Egypt.

Anthony Formosa

Feb 14th 2012, 12:47

Mr Joseph Micallef, agree one wrong does not justify another, BUT I expect that both wrongs are splashed on Youtube and not just ours, you got it now?

@ G Caruana, It's not my expertise to say if the video is genuine or not, I leave that to the experts. They went to Egypt as tourists and no need of conservation work, like any tourist coming to Malta.

Glenn Micallef

Feb 14th 2012, 14:52

Mr Anthony Formosa, the issue is not if or not this video is splashed on You Tube for all the world to see. The issue is that other maltese people have actually committed this crime against the environment. If they would have not killed the birds, this video would not have been filmed, and CABS would have nothing to publish.Therefore, the problem is that these individuals committed these crimes and not that CABS are actually showing to the world what happened. The root causes of this problem are ignorance and taxidermy. There exist people, like yourself (you have stated it on this website) that consider taxidermy as a form of art. This is what fuels such killing sprees, both locally and during such hunting trips. Before this form of 'art' is abolished, the mentality that the only good bird is a dead bird will not change and we will have many more instances like this. At the end of the day, they tarnish the genuine hunters' reputation, not CABS and BLM, as many hunters believe. The latter simply expose such vile acts.

Joseph Micallef

Feb 14th 2012, 08:54

Didn't you hear them talk in Maltese? How many maltese speaking (and swearing) people do you think live in Egypt? Can we stop trying to justify the unjustifiable please!

D Borg

Feb 14th 2012, 08:55

Did you watch the video? They spoke Maltese no?!!!! Now how many foreigners make an effort to learn Maltese?

Jo Bartolo

Feb 14th 2012, 09:04

Maybe because they can easily be heard (albeit muffled for obvious reasons) ... speaking in Maltese ??!!!! If you saw the footage you can easily hear them speak and no it wasn't English / Dutch / German or Egyptian for that matter .... it's Maltese !! .... That's why they knew these people were Maltese hunters !

Victor Pulis

Feb 14th 2012, 17:28

One could easily tell by theMaltese blaspheming for one

Joseph Micallef

Feb 14th 2012, 08:52

Mr. Agius, how would you feel if they shot at you so that they can then practice the "dying art of taxidermy"? How would you feel about that? If it means killing living beings just for fun, then the hell with taxidermy! But your reasoning seems to indicate otherwise unfortunately!

Johnny Xerri

Feb 15th 2012, 06:24

Mr Micallef,

If you had to search the web you would find that not only Mr Aguis believes that texidermy is an art, and that this activity is considered an art.

The wrong doing is when protecetd species are mounted. However, like myself for example, I mount many of the game species I hunt. This does not mean that they are not eaten. The texidermist skins them in my presence and gives me the flesh, he them mounts the skin.

I them set them up in a show case with the date, cartridge & gun used, place of hunt, distance of shot, climatic conditions when the species was caught, the dog who flushed or retrieved the game bird, who mounted it, how it was cooked, who ate it. Obviously I don't do this with every single bird hunted, but with legal game, and with the scarcer species such as; jacksnipe, snipe, woodcock, ducks, coots, mistle thrush, ruff & reeve, woodpigeon...

What is wrong in artistically preserving a memory of a legal capture?

Glenn Micallef

Feb 15th 2012, 08:16

Mr Xerri, what is wrong is that most are not happy to have a showcase with a few species and so resort to killing protected species. This is a fact.How many thousands of protected birds were registered in the amnesties? There is nothing wrong with mounting gamebirds but most will not stop at that. I will make the same comparisons you usually make; Cannabis should be legalised because some will simply smoke a joint before going to bed and cause no harm. However Cannabis is not legal because many will smoke and drive or go to work, causing injury to third parties. The more vulnerable ones will get addicted, or worse of all, move on to heavier drugs casuing untold harm. So since taxidermy WILL push many individuals to break the law and cause harm to the environment, it shold be banned. It is too high risk. Like in drugs, there is monetary reward as well, as poachers can sell their catches to collectors. And so that it is crystal clear, I am refering to a ban on taxidermy (which fuels poaching) and not a ban on legal hunting.

Joe Fenech

Feb 13th 2012, 22:56

Pastime? You are a bunch of maniacs. Too low, too ignorant to understand.

Joe Fenech

Feb 14th 2012, 07:55

People with a flair for killing should seek psychiatric help and not be handling guns.

Johnny Xerri

Feb 15th 2012, 06:02

Dear Mr Fenech,

That would create a crapload of psychiatrists considering that there exists 7 million hunters in the EU alone!!!

Hunting refers to the practice of; land conservation, gun dog training, decoy rearing, tackle preperation, persueing a prey, killing it, preparing it for the table and consuming it.

Poaching refers to the targeting (not hunting) of protected/vulnerable species.

Just as much as rape and sex cannot be compared, even though the same act is practiced (one consensualy and the other unconsensually)

Just as much as waterpolo and football cannot be compared, even though they both involve teams, players, goal posts and balls.

Now if you still cannot accept the differnce between killing for food (be it hunting or farming) and poaching, then I'd like to help you by suggesting that YOU seek psychiatric help.

Johnny Xerri

Feb 15th 2012, 06:16

Do you feel embarressed that the Kings of Soho (criminals feared for illegal prostitution, drugs and loan sharking, violence, plus all sorts of other criminality) speak your language...

Joseph Micallef

Feb 15th 2012, 18:58

Mr. Xerri Yes we feel ashamed as much as we feel ashamed that such indiscriminate hunters/poachers exist!

Johnny Xerri

Feb 15th 2012, 06:14

simply proves that while the real hunters have been denied from their legal hunting practice by having; sept afternoon curfews, and having had spring hunting nearly banned (was banned but now reopened partially)...poachers always find their way around.

But instead of working hand in hand with FKNK on eleminating paoching...BLM & CABs enjoy such events since they can lnk them to hunting and justify their funds.


What conservation effect did sept curfews have...if poachers simply go to Eygpt and kill much larger volumes?

What conservation effects did curfews and banning seasons have...if one does not mind spending € 3000 - € 5000 (@ times even more)...to poach for trophies in everything goes places...will he mind facing a possible fine locally?

But still BLM, CABs and antis like yourself want an all round ban...when facts show that restrictions are only burdining the hunters

Johnny Xerri

Feb 15th 2012, 06:06

100% agree...but while your at it strip the criminals in jail, the corrupt judges, the corrupt/violent police, the prostitutes, the druggies...and all other people who fall under the 'shameful pedegree' from Maltese citizenship please!!!

Mr Calleja have you ever asked for the Maltese-UK who have become notoriously known as the Kings of Soho, feared by all for the; drugs, prostitution and loan sharking rackets they run, to have their Maltese citizenship removed?

Mr Tony Gatt

Feb 13th 2012, 21:08

A great advert fo rMaltese 'hunters'!