TimesTalk discussed the government's suspension of the autumn hunting season in the first edition of the new series on TVM today.

The guests were Lino Farrugia, CEO of the hunters' federation and Mark Sultana from BirdLife.

Parliamentary Secretary for Animal Welfare Roderick Galdes, who was interviewed for the programme, denied the hunters' claim that the suspension of the hunting season amounted to collective punishment, but said it was meant to signal to hunters that they needed to make a collective effort to weed out those who were harming them.

He did not give a clear answer when asked if the government would consider extending the ban if there was more shooting of protected birds. He said enforcement was in place and he could not comment on hypothetical issues. He was sure the situation would improve. Mr Sultana said BirdLife would insist on proper law enforcement. Charlo' Bonnici (PN) said he would prefer it if the government took measures to prevent abuse, then react afterwards.

Mr Farrugia said it made no sense to punish law-abiding hunters, more so when this was the ordinary hunting season, not a season opened by derogation.

Following the judicial protest by the federation, Mr Farrugia said the FKNK was prepared to instituted a court case to avoid a repetition.

Mark Sultana, from BirdLife, said the society was surprised that the government had suspended the hunting season when to date it had given in to practically everything that the hunters demanded. He admitted that illegal hunting had been reduced but said much more needed to be done and hunters had a duty to report those who continued to shoot in breach of the regulations.

Mr Galdes denied that the government had lost control over hunting and said enforcement was stronger. Mr Farrugia said that the fact that seven of the persons arraigned over the Independence Day protest were FKNK members did not mean a loss of control, when the federation had 10,000 members. He stressed that the federation was not involved in any way.

Asked if the season was suspended because of Karmenu Vella's hearing before MPs, Mr Farrugia said he did not know, but if that was the case, it would be counter productive because the government could expose itself to comments that once it could not control hunting in Malta and had closed the season, how could it control the rest of Europe?