While the number of signatures asking for a referendum to abolish spring hunting has leapt to 40,000, the Hunters’ Federation yesterday would not say how many had supported its own counter-petition so far.

“We cannot officially say how many signatures we’ve collected. We’ve collected enough for the first two weeks that we’ve been collecting signatures,” FKNK’s president Joe Perici Calascione said during yesterday’s TimesTalk on TVM.

In December, the federation launched a petition to Parliament calling for amendments to the Referenda Act which would make the proposed spring hunting referendum illegal.

The move was announced in the wake of news that the Coalition for the Abolition of Spring Hunting was on the brink of reaching the required 34,000 signatures stipulated by law to force a referendum on this issue.

The hunters’ petition calls for a proviso in the Referenda Act which would exempt the interests, rights or privileges enjoyed by a minority from being subjected to an abrogative referendum. FKNK members were urged to collect at least 10 signatures each, but Mr Perici Calascione yesterday said official figures would only be released in the weeks to come.

The coalition’s representative Rudolf Ragonesi said the launch of the hunters’ campaign had actually helped boost support for its petition.

When asked how confident he was that the referendum would be won, Dr Ragonesi said if the 40,000 voted and each persuaded a person or two to cast a vote against spring hunting, it was in the bag.

On the other hand, Mr Perici Calascione said he did not want a referendum to take place, adding that the hunters were a minority group.

Addressing viewers, he asked: “Who gave the right to this coal-ition to decide they wanted to destroy hunting?”