Hunters’ associations are calling for the resignation of a museum curator who gave a German television crew access to confiscated bird carcasses not available for public display.
He is supposed to be at the forefront of promoting Malta
Hunter’s federation FKNK and the St Hubert’s Hunters’ Association have jointly called on the government to investigate the filming of the carcasses by German channel RTL. They have also called for the curator responsible, John Borg, to resign.
Mr Borg features in an RTL programme aired last week across Germany, showing the TV crew more than 2,000 confiscated bird carcasses stored at the National Museum of Natural History and decrying modern-day hunting.
The carcasses “could constitute prosecution evidence in court cases that either were concluded or are still ongoing,” the joint statement issued by the FKNK and St Hubert’s Hunters argued.
According to the two associations, Mr Borg is “an active member of BirdLife Malta” as well as a bird-ringer for the society.
They argued that the curator had no right to use his professional capacity to further his own personal agenda. “The museum curator is supposed to be at the forefront of those promoting Maltese tourism. Instead Mr Borg chose to collaborate in filming activities meant to blackmail the Maltese authorities by threatening tourism to Malta,” the statement said.
Mr Borg declined to rebut the allegations yesterday, saying that Heritage Malta would be issuing a reply on his behalf in due course.
Tensions between hunters and bird conservationists are running high, with last week’s RTL programme adding fuel to the fire.
The programme featured Maltese hunters hitting, spitting and hurling insults at members of the Germany-based Committee Against Bird Slaughter (CABS).
Footage of the incidents, available on YouTube, dates back to various hunting seasons.
Hunters’ associations insist CABS is driven by the twin motivations of raising funds and ridiculing Malta and have poured scorn on the organisation’s “exaggerated” claims.
FKNK has taken exception to CABS’ “unwarranted and uncalled for interference” in Maltese hunting as well as its flying of a spy drone plane above private property.
It intends to take legal action against CABS for breaching privacy laws and has written to the Police Commissioner and the German Ambassador requesting a meeting on the matter.