In what Frans Said considers logical, he compares Maltese hunting statistics with European, basing his whole argument on Malta being “one of the major routes which sees birds channelled through a funnel during the migration season”.

This is what some of our bird protectionists would have the gullible believe. Such argumentation is vile to anyone with a basic knowledge of ornithology or those having the common sense to distinguish between major migration routes and a minuscule island that lies well over 300 kilometres from the central Mediterranean hotspot where a few species do funnel through.

Furthermore, his belief that, once concentrated over Malta, birds disperse in Continental Europe continues to nullify his arguments.

Apart from a few soaring species crossing the narrowest points of the Mediterranean, most birds transverse on a broad front dispersing all over the European mainland.

Rather than being factual and offering a solution to what he perceives to be a problem, he builds his argument speculating on Malta being a bird paradise.

His arguments could not be further from the truth. Malta’s size and location, as stated by reputable ornithologists, make it “idle to pretend that the Maltese islands are of any great importance ornithologically”. As for his portraying Malta as a funnel for birds, he had better learn facts before comparing hunter percentages and densities and their effect on people’s enjoyment of birds. The Committee Against Bird Slaughter (CABS) lists the annual hunted number of birds in some European states. Malta: 397,690; Greece, 10,025,871; Italy, 17,054,068, Spain, 11,147,285; UK, 22,149,124.

The funnel Said speaks about must either be undergoing repair or simply nonexistent.

His letter does demonstrate the popularity of hunting, which, being a legal activity, politicians rightly regulate, and proves that a sector of Maltese society in their bid to have it all have no qualms about fabricating nonsense to discredit it.