Keith Youngs (January 12) highlights an issue often referred to in the local press, that of irresponsible actions by hunting licence holders. Definitely not the only form of abuse on our islands, yet hunting is the only activity all correspondents writing about the subject infallibly conclude should be banned.
Coming from a hunter who presumably is British, one wonders why he chose to suggest such a cure when unfortunately the multitude of hunting illegalities and crimes against wildlife in the UK and elsewhere are so rife. Indeed two wrongs do not make a right, but reading reports by the UK environment department DEFRA or PAW in Ireland makes one wonder why he chose to call for a ban only in Malta.
As a group of hunters that profess strict adherence to the law, we deplore any illegal hunting activity. Our proposals to better the situation locally have been with the Prime Minister for years; we have asked for stricter licensing laws, improved enforcement and harsher penalties. Unfortunately the irresponsible few, who should never have been conceded the privilege to hunt, are proving to be detrimental to law-abiding hunters.
We act on any abuse we witness and have managed, without fanfare, to improve the situation as all who admit to reality can confirm.
The systematic lobbying to ban hunting in Malta, whether by people like Mr Youngs or by the biannual influx of anti-hunting activists, only highlights an orchestrated campaign against hunters, whether or not they respect the law.
Can Mr Youngs, who claims to still enjoy the challenge of flushing woodcock in Ireland, honestly say hunting illegalities are only a Maltese phenomenon? Does he as a hunter wish to see all his hunting banned other than for two weeks a year because of a few individuals who flout the law?
Having allegedly seen four youths “for an hour or so” shooting “easy targets” which he later discovered to be “tiny birds”, does not point to any knowledge of birds and hunting which would have led him to realise this illegality immediately.
Why, after losing his opportunity to be useful, he chose to write to the press rather than report this abuse to the police only proves his intention is not to help eradicate the problem but to publicise it.