I refer to George Palmer’s letter Damage To Malta’s Reputation (May 18).

A little background should help to put things in perspective. In the period preceding Malta’s accession to the European Union, the Prime Minister at the time, Eddie Fenech Adami, wrote letters individually to all the hunters and trappers of Malta and Gozo in which he guaranteed that spring hunting and finch trapping would continue to flourish even when Malta formed part of the EU.

The hunters and trappers took the honorable gentleman at his word. The Malta/EU Information Centre, led by now MEP Simon Busuttil, also made similar written guarantees. The EU representative and negotiator acquiesced and did not contradict those written guarantees.

Through its tacit response, the EU also seemed to be in agreement with all the information that was being dished out.

Not long after EU accession, things turned sour. On May 10, 2007, the spring hunting season was cut short by the government because of an alleged massacre of honey buzzards, for which nobody was apprehended and charged. By sheer coincidence, the responsible minister, George Pullicino, had returned from Brussels the day before. Then, in 2008 and 2009, the spring season was not opened pending an EU court judgement. Finch trapping was stopped completely in December 2008 and a ban on turtle dove, quail and golden plover trapping followed in 2011. These are to name just a few of the several restrictions and bans that have been imposed on the local socio-cultural traditions of hunting and trapping since EU membership.

People sought explanations from their district MPs but all they got was a shrug of the shoulders and speechless silence. You do not mess about with the Maltese, still less with the Gozitans.

Then there is the question of how close Mr Palmer lives to the shooting. If he is living in an area inhabited by at least 100 persons, he has a right to complain and expect police action. If Mr Palmer’s place is a lone detached villa or converted farmhouse in the countryside, then he has no right to complain. In that case, he would do well to install double or triple-glazed doors and windows so that at least the gunshots’ noise will not affect his sleep and that of visitors.

If Mr Palmer cannot stomach even “legal hunting” that is his problem because the EU acknowledges our “right to hunt” and hunt we will, especially in Gozo.

It is only extremists who object, and it is only they who are damaging Malta’s reputation by their refusal to accept that the Maltese and Gozitans have as much right to practise hunting as any of the other seven million EU citizens who do.