The interview given by the German Ambassador Hubert Ziegler (The Sunday Times, March 3) is an insult to people’s intelligence and a pathetic excuse to tarnish Malta’s image by yet another intolerant and conceited anti-hunter.
Apart from the pathetic excuse of assuming our letter to him was a public statement when we asked for “An official declaration on your part addressing the issue would be very opportune and welcome.” We refer to the content of our letter that highlighted the exploitation of hunting illegalities in Malta by the German organisation CABS in a televised documentary and the explicit reference to tourism towards Malta.
Our letter which presumably he read stated: “Maintaining good relations between our governments and their peoples is high on your list of priorities.
“The showing in Germany of this extremely biased, one-sided, misrepresentative and offensive documentary is in our opinion certainly not conducive to promoting good relations. It also conflicts with the efforts of our government to promote tourism to Malta from Germany.”
The fact that he now confirms receiving e-mails form potential German tourists who will not be visiting Malta due to our “disgusting” behavior and to the reference to “bird killing” on all of Malta’s guide books only goes to prove the German Ambassador was more intent on promoting his ideals and aiding Bird Guards rather than fulfilling the purpose of his office.
This becomes even more evident when our letter to him also highlighted the problematic hunting situation in Germany as evidenced by CABS, the organisation he supports: To date there has been no place for modern ecological knowledge in the ramshackle Federal Hunting Law. German hunters indulge in both shooting of migrant birds and setting of cruel traps.
Hunting is permitted in most nature reserves, birds are shot legally during the breeding season and special generous exceptions are made for shooting of protected species such as Grey Heron, Cormorant and corvids.
The trapping, poisoning and shooting of protected species – above all birds of prey – is still widespread in parts of Germany and, unique for Europe, there is no functioning control organ.
He asked for an interview in his personal capacity for whatever this is worth. To all Mr Ziegler is the German Ambassador who as a representative of his country failed to reply to all the emails he received from lost tourists informing them that what was “disgusting” in Malta was in fact according to CABS far worse in Germany.