On reading the letter ‘Blasting birds from the sky is not a sport’ (The Sunday Times of Malta, May 10), I cannot but laugh and attribute such writing to a person who has been confined to living in a box since birth.

Sean Whyte from the UK states: “People like myself who respect and admire birds for what they are will never set foot in Malta until this barbaric practice is banned.”

Considering “defenceless wild birds” are also shot in England to the tune that shooting generates £2 billion to the UK economy, what exactly is he trying to prove other than his bigotry?

With 17 wild bird species shot all year round as pests, as well as seven deer species, rabbit, hare and wild boar, the UK is considered a shooter’s paradise. According to statistics provided by the Committee Against Bird Slaughter, CABS, Malta’s 397,690 shot birds pale into insignificance compared to the UK’s 22,149,024.

Before fearing any “defenceless birds which could fall out of the sky and onto you at any moment” or “blood splattered all over them on holiday”, Whyte had better admit to reality and stop writing nonsense.

Should anyone’s counter argument centre around shooting in the UK being limited to birds bred for the purpose, then it might be opportune to mention that, apart from bred pheasant and partridge, the UK shooting list consists of the following wild birds: Golden Plover, Common Snipe, Jack Snipe, Woodcock, nine duck species, four goose species, moorhen, coot, grey partridge, red grouse, black grouse and ptarmigan.

Most of these are “birds migrating to other countries” no less than those shot in Malta.

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