Hunters demand museum curator's resignation

The FKNK and St Hubert's hunters' association have demanded the resignation of the curator of the National Museum of Natural History for his role in feature films by CABS and BirdLife which are being shown on German and UK television.

The associations said the documentaries recently screened by the German television station RTL and the BBC featured  interviews with the curator of the National Museum of Natural History John J. Borg, and included footage of frozen bird carcasses and mounted bird specimens held in the storage rooms of the museum. These items and the rooms where they are kept are not accessible to the Maltese public.

The birds, about 2000 in number, were confiscated over many years following court orders and could constitute prosecution evidence in court cases that either were concluded or are still ongoing, the FKNK said.  They are neither for public display nor for advertising.

The curator of the museum is a public official paid through public funds to run the place in line with the purpose of a museum, the association said.

Instead, they said, the curator chose to comment disparagingly and reveal a collection of bird carcasses and mounts that do not form part of the artefacts on public display.

They said that Mr Borg is an active member of Birdlife Malta (BLM) and a BLM bird-ringer.

"This fact does not entitle him in his capacity as curator to utilize his time as a public official and to use the government property under his custody to further his own personal agenda or those of his associates," the hunters said.

They added that as representatives of the Maltese hunting fraternity, the two associations had striven to curtail illegal activities in the field for over 30 years and they prided ourselves on their achievements, as was clearly evident to one and all.

"However, we have consistently contested the exaggerated claims being portrayed to the international public by BLM and their German partners, CABS, that only serve two purposes, namely that of targeting funding to sustain their activities and secondly that of ridiculing Malta, the Maltese authorities, and the hunters."

The Federation for Hunting and Conservation – Malta (FKNK) and St. Hubert Hunters therefore called upon the authorities to investigate and determine whether an abuse of office had been committed by this public officer. They also asked the government to determine who is ultimately responsible for the confidential and secure keeping of these confiscated illegal birds and on whose authority did the museum curator allow the filming of confiscated birds for propaganda purposes.

They also called on Mr Borg to hand in his resignation.