More than 30,000 people have signed the petition to call for a referendum on ending spring hunting in Malta, according to the Coalition for the Abolition of Spring Hunting.

For the referendum to be permissible, 10 per cent of the Maltese electorate must sign the petition – 34,500 people – so the coalition is just a few thousand supporters short.

According to a spokesman, the coalition has been inundated with petition forms during the past week and it is now in the final stages of collecting the required signatures to make the referendum happen.

The coalition is urging everyone who has been involved in collecting signatures to collect more in the run-up to Christmas.

“The dove is a symbol of peace and it seems appropriate that we should ask people to sign the petition to protect the turtle dove, one of the species hunted in spring, at this very special time of year,” the spokesman added.

“If everyone who has already signed the petition collected just one more signature, we would be sure to have enough names on the petition to make this referendum happen.”

The fact we have already collected 30,000 signatures clearly demonstrates the people want change

Requesting a referendum calling to abolish spring hunting will be the first time that the legislation that allows a popular vote to remove existing laws will have been used.

“The fact that we have already collected 30,000 signatures clearly demonstrates the people want change and they want it now.”

Copies of the petition form and instructions on how to gather signatures can be downloaded from the Birdlife Malta website, www.birdlifemalta.org.