A large majority of people are against hunting on weekends and school holidays, Din l-Art Helwa said today.
It said that according to a Misco survey it had commissioned 50% of the Maltese population walk or take a drive in the countryside each week in Spring. The figure is high in Autumn and Winter also.
55% of the population aged 16 and over believed that hunting restricted access to the countryside for families.
¨ 51% were in favour of banning hunting in Spring and 30% were against such a ban;
¨ 39% were in favour of banning hunting in Autumn and 40% were against such a ban.
On coming into office Prime Minister Joseph Muscat introduced hunting on Sundays and Public Holidays in Spring which had previously been banned. The survey results showed that this was not supported by the Maltese population who want this decision reversed and a hunting ban introduced for the whole weekend and all school holidays, the environment NGO said.
"60% of the population believe that, even if hunting is allowed in Spring, no hunting at all should be allowed on Spring weekends; this figure rises to 66% for persons aged 35-44 and to 65% for persons aged 45-54."
¨ 53% believe that, even if hunting is allowed in Autumn, no hunting at all should be allowed on Autumn weekends; this figure rises to 61% for persons aged 35-44 and to 57% for persons aged 45-54.
The Maltese population also believes that hunting should be stopped during school holidays:
¨ 64% of the population believe that, even if hunting is allowed in Spring, hunting should be stopped during Spring school holidays; this figure rises to 71% for persons aged 35-44 as well as for persons aged 45-54.
¨ 57% believe that, even if hunting is allowed in Autumn, hunting should be stopped during Autumn school holidays; this figure rises to 69% for persons aged 35-44.
Nature Sites or Parks:
The work in past years to introduce protected nature sites or parks in the Maltese countryside has not gone unnoticed by the population. In fact, 70% were able to mention one or more of these nature sites or parks, Din l-Art Helwa said.
79% of respondents claimed to have visited at least one of these sites or parks in the past year. 36% claimed to have visited at least one of these sites or parks in the past month and 11% claimed to have visited at least one of these sites or parks in the past week.
Only 21% of respondents said that they have not visited at least one of these sites or parks in the past year; this figure drops to 12% for those aged 25-34 and 6% for those aged 16-24.
"88% of the population believe we should have more protected nature sites. No new nature sites or parks have been established since 2013 although there is at least one pending request to the government for an identified area to be declared as nature sites or parks.
Interviewing was carried out using the computer assisted telephone interviewing mode. Stratified random sampling was used to select the 500 participants.