At the insistence of hunters, trappers and “ethical” bird shooters lining up behind the inevitable saint, I shall rephrase:

Gunshots fired after 3 p.m. count equally as those fired before 3 p.m. to a dead bird- Anne Zammit, St Julian’s

To further emphasise my original point (‘Teamwork for bird protection’, The Sunday Times, April 15), indeed the European Court ofJustice certainly did find Malta guilty of opening a spring season in which conditions were ignored (“non-observance”, as admitted byFKNK’s PRO).

To Messrs Buttigieg and Cardona of the Federation of Hunters and Trappers and Kaċċaturi San Ubertu, I would say: let’s not beat around the bush or trifle with statistics by applying back-to-front logic.

Gunshots fired after 3 p.m. count equally as those fired before 3 p.m. to a dead bird.

What “reality” is this which the present administration recognises… that 10,000 Maltese hunters (the purported figure bludgeoning family members and associates into the equation) cannot get it into their heads that avian wildlife needs a breathing space during the season when birds are mating and raising their young?

Fawning over the government’s diligence in engineering a derogation scores no points with the rest of us. Hunters need to stop clinging to their “right” to pump lead into feathers at the very time of year when fragile life is bursting into being.

Farm quail instead, pop them off, put them in a pie and eat them if you must – but taking them from the wild in the season when schoolchildren are innocently aspiring to a reality in which they can draw birds flying unharmed under a benevolent springtime sun is an affront to nature and us all.

Shooting a free-flying turtle dove in spring is sheer anathema. These birds have one partner for life and are a symbol of loyalty and faith.

How fickle to take their lives and leave behind a mourning mate, maybe with nestlings to care for too.

The hunter who would coldly shoot down a turtle dove must be truly hard of heart and only interested in his own slice of pie.

The hunters’ associations are right about one thing though: poachers couldn’t care less and operate virtually unhindered during the closed season as witnessed by shots heard early morning outside season all spring. So there we have it.

And don’t for a minute take the EU referendum result as a green card for spring hunting from the majority of the Maltese populace.