The silent majority against hunting are being urged by Birdlife Malta to speak up and voice their opposition against the concessions political parties give to the hunting lobby before every election.

This is about influencing politicians to listen to the message of the majority

Unveiling a slogan “Times Change, Some Things Don’t,” the conservation organisation wants voters to get the message across every time a politician knocks on their door during house visits.

“Ahead of every election people are canvassed heavily and this is your time to cancel out what hunters have done for many years when they threatened parties with their votes,” Birdlife president Joseph Mangion said.

“What sort of country do we live in that allows just a few thousand hunters to endanger the future of protected species and make the most of the countryside a no-go area for large parts of the year? It is time for this to stop,” he said.

Speaking at a press conference with newly appointed director Steve Micklewright, Mr Mangion insisted it was not instructing anyone on how to vote.

“This isn’t about who to vote for, but about influencing politicians to listen to the message of the majority who don’t want hunting,” he said.

The campaign, which will run until the March 9 election, will target social media and Birdlife will be providing talking points on its website, among others.

Backing his arguments with documents and newspaper cuttings, Mr Mangion said the large swathes of countryside had been illegally occupied and handed over to the hunting lobby by successive administrations.

Both main political parties provided concessions to hunters. In 1996, Labour leader Alfred Sant signed a position document favouring hunting, while in 2003 Nationalist Prime Minister Eddie Adami wrote a letter to hunters on the impact of joining the EU, making promises to allay their fears.

“These and the many other concessions created a countryside where hunting and trapping is possible on 80 per cent of land and where this occupied land is full of illegal structures and ‘keep out’ signs that the authorities make no attempt to enforce their removal,” Mr Mangion said.

He said that since the Majjistral national park opened, schools visits and walks involving children had to be cancelled because of the amount of shooting and the risks it posed.

Mr Micklewright said Birdlife was asking voters to demand that politicians ban hunting and trapping from nature protection areas.

Voters should also demand that buffer zones around residential areas, where hunting was not allowed, be increased to at least 500m, not the “insignificant” 200m of today.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.