The government is not too happy about the approaching referendum on spring hunting. This outcome was probably far from their minds when they began relaxing the hunting regulations soon after moving into Castille in 2013. The law of unintended consequences is an intriguing concept.
The first step was removing the identification armband and the spring hunting licence fee, which increased the number of hunters in spring by 50 per cent. The parliamentary secretary responsible for hunting, Roderick Galdes, then famously identified a useful ‘crack’ (not a loophole) in the regulations prohibiting trapping. Hunting hours were also later eased during the weeks when protected birds of prey migrate over Malta.
People quickly joined the dots and understood that the existing hunting controls were unravelling. As we all know, before long, over 40,000 signatures were collected in a petition for a democratic vote to finally ban spring hunting altogether.
The writing was on the wall. A growing number of people have been totally fed up of the hunters’ bullying tactics for years. Maltese hunters bully politicians on both sides, together with anyone else who gets in their way.
They roam across every inch of the open countryside with their weapons, dogs and camouflage outfits. They build illegal and untidy hides and spoil the rural landscape with these eyesores. Families venturing outdoors with their children are careful not to risk angering a man with a gun. This does not help the hunters’ cause or image.
Interest in environmental conservation is no longer restricted to a small band of scientists, idealists or extremists living on the fringes of society
This negative posturing has fired up public outrage at hunters before. The attack on the Mnajdra Neolithic temple in April 2001, which had caused extensive damage to this World Heritage site and even made it onto CNN news, was widely condemned.
Nobody was ever arraigned over this dreadful vandalism, or proven guilty; however, the break-in was commonly attributed to hunters.
Whoever was responsible, people readily felt that it matched the aggressive behaviour that had become synonymous with the hunting fraternity.
More recently, hunters have been suspected of torching the cars of birdwatchers at Buskett, vindictively destroying trees at Foresta 2000 and injuring its site ranger with a shotgun. Some might argue that it is a minority of hunters who give the rest a bad name but the fact remains that their reputation for civility is in the mud.
The protection and conservation of birds is obviously central to this whole debacle, but I believe people not only signed the petition to ban spring hunting because of that.
Apart from saving birds, people have had enough of being intimidated by hunters and want to freely enjoy what is left of the beautiful countryside in Malta and Gozo without stumbling over hides, ‘keep out’ signs, and spent cartridges at every step.
Visitors to Malta are also a constant voice of disapproval and outrage in the press, and leading tourism operators have expressed concern about the negative reputation of hunting in Malta.
While traditional hunting was mainly a way of obtaining food, today it is largely a sport. Hunters currently have a five-month open season each year, from September to January, and this must finally be more than enough.
For all these reasons, I will be voting No to spring hunting.
Whichever way the referendum goes, hunting will probably be even more contentious afterwards than it was before.
The consequence of relaxing the hunting regulations is that the government is facing two increasingly discontented groups, the pro- and anti-hunting factions, with tension rising higher than ever. A lot is at stake and any losing side will not go away quietly.
The issue has grown larger than spring hunting. The credibility of the government’s democratic principles hung in the balance when they tried to cancel the 2015 local council elections, which was broadly interpreted as an attempt to reduce voter turnout and sabotage the referendum.
Some people might believe that if the referendum does not manage to ban spring hunting, then it will be business as usual. They are wrong.
Interest in environmental conservation is no longer restricted to a small band of scientists, idealists or extremists living on the fringes of society. It is a topic which is well established in schools and universities and it is on the international agenda. Younger generations are likely to be even more informed about biodiversity and other environmental matters, not less.
Concerns about environmental sustainability are here to stay, and the killing of birds in spring just before they are about to nest and breed will continue to be viewed as a bad idea. Spring hunting is living on borrowed time.
As they cooked up the relaxing of bird regulations at the lovely Casa Leoni in Santa Venera, built by Grand Master António Manoel de Vilhena in the 18th century, little did Environment Minister Leo Brincat and parliamentary secretary Roderick Galdes predict the chain of events they were setting off. The genie has escaped from the bottle.
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