Is it not time that countries around the world had a radical rethink and found a sensible solution to prevent ‘sporting’ hunters slaughtering endangered species?

There is supposed to be an inexhaustible population of rats around the world and mankind would benefit from the destruction of these disease carrying vermin, so why not hunt/trap rats instead?

Malta, in particular, has much less wildlife and surely it is only a matter of time before hunting is further curtailed or banned altogether, so is hunting rats not a viable alternative?

Governments should incentivise hunters to shoot this alternative prey by financially rewarding them for each carcass/pelt presented. Maybe it would even be possible to export the rat meat to parts of the world where it is eaten or to countries where people are starving.

It may take many years to achieve this radical change but surely this would be a beginning in educating young people taking up hunting.

I cannot imagine either side of the hunting lobby shedding tears over rat hunting and so maybe this is the perfect compromise.

Can you imagine hunters providing such an essential service and being paid for their sport in the process? Hunters being popular – what a turnaround!

Perhaps my simple suggestion is ‘full of holes’ and will be ridiculed but one thing is certain and that is we need to think out of the box to find a solution to prevent even more species being hunted to extinction.