Anti-hunting campaigners this afternoon urged eligible voters to pick up their voting documents for the upcoming referendum on spring hunting.

This morning there were still 26,248 uncollected voting documents.
They can be collected from the Naxxar counting hall between 8am and 2pm, and 3pm to 9pm. (up to midnight on Thursday) 

Shout (Spring Hunting Out) said the turnout of early voters last Saturday was encouraging, but there were others who had not yet collected their documents.

The anti-hunting campaigners were speaking from a Natura 2000 site on the Pembroke coastline, limits of the White rocks area.

This site was public land, spokesman Mark Sultana said, however, people did not feel comfortable walking there during the hunting season. 

"This area," he said, "like hundreds of other sites around Malta and Gozo, is today a peaceful area enjoyed by walkers and joggers, and a safe place for migrating birds to land and feed when they arrive, exhausted, on our shores. However, in just one week's time, this area could be occupied by hunters once more if the NO vote does not win."

“Hunters literally take over public land and other Natura 2000 sites in Spring and not only stop the public from entering them but kill birds. Worse still, they kill thousands of migrating birds that are on their way to breed. In a Natura 2000 site one does shoot birds when they are on their way to breed," he insisted.