The Hunters’ Federation is defending a statement it made labelling British environmentalist Bill Oddie a “mental case”, insisting it was “only stating the facts”.
In a statement, the FKNK last Wednesday described Mr Oddie as an “extremist” “mental case”, who suffered from depression, and had contemplated suicide.
The television personality last week visited Malta together with The League Against Cruel Sports to support Birdlife’s campaign to abolish spring hunting.
Asked what the aim of the statement was, federation President Joe Perici Calascione said the organisation had reservations over Mr Oddie’s integrity.
“We were just saying ‘Is he reliable?’. If the person doesn’t have a sound [psychological] foundation then we question if he should be reporting on this issue at all,” he said.
The statement had earned the strong condemnation of Richmond Foundation CEO Antoinette Shah who described the FKNK’s position as “very degrading” and “extremely unethical”.
Asked for a reaction, Mr Perici Calascione said he was well aware of the difficulties faced by individuals with mental health challenges.
In fact, the federation had its own brush with mental health issues when it published a report exposing the high levels of anxiety experienced by hunters during a brief hunting ban imposed back in 2009.
The independent study conducted by the Malta Association of Psychiatric Nurses had found that the reported incidence of mental health problems in the hunting community was far above the national average.
Asked if the FKNK had taken into consideration the apparent mental problems experienced by hunters during the ban, Mr Perici Calascione said this was only the result of the ban.
“They were depressed because they couldn’t go hunting. If you deprive people of a very big part of their life they are bound to get depressed,” he said.
It was not only Mr Oddie’s mental state that raised the FKNK’s alarm bells. Mr Perici Calascione said: “I feel he is using the media to promote his own personal abolitionist agenda and ideals.”
Other foreign personalities have also earned the rebuke of the hunters’ lobby. Mr Perici Calascione raised doubts about BBC presenter Chris Packham, who recently left Malta after trying to record footage of illegal hunting practices.
He claimed Mr Peckham was harassing hunters in an attempt to instigate illegalities.
“He is standing in front of hunters with cameras in their faces trying to provoke them,” he said.
Hunters lobbying Parliament
The FKNK is lobbying parliamentarians to introduce a clause to the Referenda Act which would forbid votes from impinging on minorities.
FKNK president Joe Perici Calascione told Times of Malta the law was not meant to be used against minority groups. Instead, this was to be used for votes of “national importance”.
“I can understand calling a referendum over the introduction of divorce or joining the EU, they affect everyone. But hunting does not,” he said. The referendum has been delayed by three months after the FKNK complained about the random signature verification method being used by the Electoral Commission.
Federation CEO Lino Farrugia told this newspaper he had reservations on whether all of the signatures were valid.
Asked what action the lobby would take once the referendum was put before the constitutional court, Mr Farrugia said among the legal arguments being explored was whether referendums could be used to abrogate on minority issues.