Just 15,000 signatures remain to be collected to force a referendum on spring hunting, the coalition running the campaign said yesterday.

The Coalition for the Abolition of Spring Hunting said the number of signatures on its petition calling for the Government to hold a public referendum on the future of spring hunting has passed the 20,000 mark.

The coalition launched the petition three months ago and gathered 10,000 signatures in the first two months.

The second 10,000 signatures were collected in half that time, as the rate at which people have been signing the petition doubled in the past month.

Coalition spokesperson Christian Debono said that he believed the petition would continue to gather momentum as news of it reached more people.

We are also getting more and more members of the public asking how they can help

“We are not only getting new signatures on the petition every day, we are also getting more and more members of the public contacting us and asking how they can help collect signatures.

“Passing the 20,000-signature mark is significant: it is nearly double the number of hunters who registered for this year’s spring hunting season,” he said.

Mr Debono said the coalition still had some way to go until it reached its target of 35,000 signatures required by law to force a referendum.

“But we have already shown that there is a sizeable proportion of the Maltese electorate who want the Government to start listening to their views on the issue of spring hunting, who want to have their voices heard and their interests represented.”

The petition form may be downloaded from: http://www.scribd.com/doc/179605062/Coalition-Against-Spring-Hunting-Referendum-Petition-Sheet-English .