We should interact with birds, which are marvellous creatures.

Birds are intelligent animals. In fact, they have the intelligence of eight-year-old children and as our offspring have feelings, whether a person likes them or not, so do the birds.

Last August, I spent a couple of weeks water skiing in Corfu. The bay was filled with all kinds of birds. Tourists and Corfiots fed them and interacted with them. Swans, geese and ducks welcomed me when I arrived on the pontoon each morning as can be seen from the photo.

It was a wonderful experience seeing the birds come close to the shore for their food.

They had no fear because they knew that everyone was their friend.

It is not the same in Malta.

In this tiny country of ours, birds are frightened by the 11,000 hunters whose main aim in life is to kill or maim every bird that comes in sight.

Birds realise that the Maltese people are their enemy and that, to them, the Maltese islands are enemy territory.

The noise of a shotgun being fired, which, incidentally, exceeds the noise level imposed by EU regulations, scares them.

The result is that our young sons and daughters are growing up without the experience of interacting with these wonderful creatures. This does not help in the right formation of the children’s characters because interacting with animals will encourage them to be kind.

Instead, they are accustomed to seeing lifeless stuffed birds with funny glass eyes glaring at them. These are locked in showcases like valuable Fabergé works of art.

Unfortunately, due to the way we treat birds, some hunters’ could children possibly even develop an aggressive nature later in their life.