As the hunting season shot off to a start, residents living on the outskirts of Mġarr say they are often trapped in their own homes, surrounded by shot-gun pellets and threatening hunters, some of who trespass on private property.
A number of hunters trespass on private property
One San Martin Estate resident, Caroline Muscat, was yesterday going about her daily chores when she saw a hunter walking around her property looking for a bird he had just shot.
When she asked him to get out, he insisted he wanted to retrieve “his” bird. He did, only to return with two others who sat down opposite Ms Muscat’s house, keeping her under their watch-ful gaze, raising their fists and hurling insults.
“I could not get out and was being harassed in my own home. Anybody in my position would feel threatened,” Ms Muscat said.
A friend of hers, who learnt about the incident from Facebook, immediately called an Administrative Law Enforce-ment officer, whose first reaction was to ask whether the shot bird was protected.
When the caller could not answer, he was asked why he was bothering the police and advised “don’t be difficult, let them find the bird”.
When contacted, the police insisted the ALE officer took action and apart from “proceeding personally to the indicated address”, he also informed the Mosta police to call at the place since they were closer.
Ms Muscat confirmed the police did make it to the area – an hour later – by which time the hunters had disappeared.
“I knew the police were approaching because I suddenly saw the hunters disappear,” Ms Muscat said, adding the police did not look for the shot bird on the premises to identify whether it was protected.
When contacted, a spokesman for the Office of the Prime Minister said the police were investigating the case.
This was not the first incident of the sort. Last year, San Martin residents sent a letter to Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi and Police Commissioner John Rizzo, twice expressing concern that hunters shoot on the boundaries of their residential area.
Ms Muscat said they never received an acknowledgment. When contacted, a spokesman said that after receiving the letter on April 14 of last year, the Office of the Prime Minister had asked the police to investigate.
Following these investigations, the police informed OPM that “no illegal activity as described was noted” and “the story told and reported is abnormally inflated”.
But residents of San Martin Estate live in this “threatening atmosphere” every hunting season, they say. Some 12 families wake up to the noise of shotguns as early as 5 a.m.
“We are surrounded by hunters with their shotguns pointed in the direction of our property... birds and pellets alike constantly fall on our property... It’s unbearable, it’s like living in a war zone,” Ms Muscat added.
“It’s not fair that because they’re bullies, demanding that laws are bent to their benefit, they get listened to, and when we ask for basic public health and safety regulations, we’re ignored,” Ms Muscat insisted.
Yesterday’s incident was not the first for Ms Muscat. Once, while sipping some coffee on her patio, a hunter started shooting in her direction after a bird flew over her head. The hunter had been hiding under a tree on her own property.
“What can I do? Put up barbed wire around my place, to gain some peace?”