Do not be misled by the glossy, but mendacious and deceitful, Yes campaign by the pro-hunting lobby. In any objective assessment of ‘hunting’ (the killing of birds), it is difficult to avoid being revolted at the way hunters have given up all claim to have their ‘sport’ treated as worthy of public support in the light of the frequent, flagrant, illegal and blackmailing behaviour of a sizeable minority of their membership.

There are three overriding reasons why reasonable people will vote No in the abrogative referendum on April 11.

The first is our responsibility as European citizens for ensuring the conservation of the birds and wildlife of Europe. Secondly, our inalienable right as citizens to enjoy the Maltese countryside in the spring without threat or fear. Thirdly, our duty to exercise our democratic imperative to remove from the statute books a flawed legal notice which was passed against the wishes of the vast majority of Maltese.

Spring hunting has been forbidden under EU law – the so-called Birds Directive – to give migrating birds a chance to breed. The need to allow game birds free passage to their northern breeding grounds in the spring is vital for their conservation.

Those that migrate through Malta are the strong birds that have survived the winter in Africa, flying from as far away as Senegal, the Ivory Coast and Nigeria, and are returning to mainland Europe to breed, lay eggs and increase their population. They use Malta as a resting place before continuing on their journey to their breeding habitats.

When a bird is shot in Malta, as it recovers strength briefly before flying to its northern nesting grounds, it is a loss to the strongest crop of the species which has managed to survive the perilous transcontinental crossing thus far. Each bird killed in Malta could have given mankind another four, eight or 13 chicks.

Slaughtering them at this vulnerable stage of their journey is akin to weakening the entire species. The paramount need to conserve them is why spring hunting has been made illegal throughout Europe.

As importantly, in the last four spring hunting seasons, over 38 other bird species have been illegally targeted by Maltese hunters who use the season as a cover for shooting rare and protected birds. Avian outrages in Malta are rife and occur each year.

Last year’s slaughter of a dozen or more booted eagles was another in the annual list of protected species which once soared over Malta until they were blasted out of the Maltese sky.

Previous years saw the killing of ospreys, flamingos, spoonbills, storks, falcons, mute swans and other beautiful protected birds.

The hunters’ contemptuous mantra is: “If it flies, it dies.”

The abrogative referendum being held on April 11 gives us the opportunity to conform fully with European law.

It will also show that we are as sensitive to our own and Europe’s ecology, environment and wildlife as any other European.

We are as civilised and determined as any other citizen in Europe to safeguard them.

Secondly, voting No reinforces our right as citizens to enjoy the Maltese countryside in the spring-time without having it hijacked by an aggressive minority in our society who make an innocent walk in the country a life-threatening and frightening endurance test.

Hunters as a proportion of the population constitute less than one-fortieth of those Maltese who wish to enjoy Malta’s increasingly scarce rural spaces.

Serious injuries and even deaths are not unknown during the hunting season when large swathes of country become virtual no-go areas.

Both parties have bowed to the hunting lobby and their threat of electoral blackmail

Hunters commandeer the countryside in the springtime and make it inaccessible to ordinary members of the public.

Voting No on April 1 is about giving the vast majority of the Maltese people access to our unspoilt natural spaces without fear of being accosted, verbally abused or accidentally shot by men (looking ridiculous) in disrupted pattern combat kit waving guns and acting in a threatening and offensive manner.

Those families with children who wish to enjoy the beauty of the Maltese countryside will be free to do so. The happy-looking family portrayed in the hunters’ slick, but misleading, brochure should experience at first-hand what would happen to their child if they took it to Delimara, Buskett, Miżieb, or almost any other part of the countryside during the hunting season. Indeed, no family that loved its children would risk it doing so.

Third, the referendum gives us – the silent majority in Maltese politics – the opportunity to exercise our democratic will by making our voices heard. It is our fundamental right.

The spurious and self-serving argument put about by the hunters that other minority sports, hobbies and activities could be threatened or prejudiced by future attempts to have an abrogative referendum is just so much fear-mongering.

It would be difficult to find a lawyer worth his professional salt who would disagree with the considered legal opinion handed down by a group of leading lawyers and a former member of the international judiciary that any such assertions are “totally without any legal basis”.

Spring hunting is illegal under EU law. The referendum will simply remove a Maltese law which made an ill-judged exception to European law.

Both major political parties – Alternattiva Demokratika is the honourable exception – have been in thrall to the hunting lobbies for years, betraying the silent majority for short-sighted political ends. Both parties have bowed to the hunting lobby and their threat of electoral blackmail.

For the first time in Malta’s constitutional history, an abrogative referendum is being held.

It is a most powerful example of direct democracy in which we the people – not the politicians – will decide the issue. The outcome will automatically remove from the statute books the law that allows spring hunting.

By voting No, the spring hunting issue will be settled once and for all. Politicians will no longer be able to engage in a bidding war with hunters by promising to allow them to shoot birds in the spring contrary to the terms of the EU Birds Directive. We the people will no longer be held hostage at the barrel of a gun.

The importance of this step in Malta’s coming of age as a democratic nation cannot be overstated. It is a clear example of direct democracy at its best.

The abrogative referendum is the ultimate expression under our Constitution of the role of civil society in telling our politicians in a forthright and irrevocable manner that, in the light of the experience of the last 11 years, the derogation has proved to be wrong in principle and abused in practice.

Voting No is our chance to tell the politicians that they cannot ignore civil society simply to buy electoral votes.

This is a rare power which we have not exercised before. It sends a clear message to leaders of both political parties that they can no longer trim their political sails to satisfy a vested (and illegal) interest in society without also risking the loss of votes of the vast majority of Maltese.

Voting is one of the great privileges of living in a democracy. We have a duty to vote on April 11.

Whether you live in the town or the country, you are affected.

Vote No.