As Malta slowly gears up for a referendum on spring hunting, Kurt Sansone meets ornithologist Joe Sultana and hunter Pierre Zammit to explore the arguments of the Yes and No camps respectively.

‘A hunter is essentially just selfish’

Veteran ornithologist Joe Sultana, 75, would be giving different answers if this interview about spring hunting was held more than 50 years ago.

Mr Sultana was a hunter, but in 1964 the 25-year-old had a Damascene moment and converted his passion for bird hunting into ornithology.

“I stopped killing birds because I felt it was better to appreciate them alive in their natural state,” he says just after crumbling some cake and bread on a bird table in his balcony. “A hunter is essentially just selfish.”

Mr Sultana admits the upcoming referendum on spring hunting is not what he would have wanted to see happen. For him the principle argument at stake is one based on the conservation of wildlife.

“I would have thought Maltese society advanced to a stage where spring hunting would cease because people realised it was not sustainable to hunt in spring rather than being forced out in this way.”

His arguments against spring hunting are not based on pity for the birds, as is often the case with animal lovers.

“There are some in the anti-spring hunting camp who are motivated by their disgust over the killing of birds. For me this is a conservation issue. I am not a vegetarian. I eat meat but this comes from farm-bred animals not wild animals and this distinction has to be made.”

He insists hunters do not hunt for food but for pleasure and doing so in spring destabilises nature’s balance.

Mr Sultana explains that in spring birds are migrating northward to their breeding grounds in Europe. The ordeal of having to cross the African deserts twice annually ensures only the fittest of the species make it through, heightening the chances to breed successfully.

“It is not ethical to kill a bird heading towards its breeding grounds in spring,” he insists.

Genuine hunters realise that shooting birds in spring will eventually kill the goose that lays the golden egg, he adds.

Turtle dove populations have been dropping drastically and in no other Mediterranean country, including Italy, France and Greece where hunting for this species is rampant, is it possible to hunt in spring, he says.

Mr Sultana admits that agricultural practices in European breeding grounds may have been partly responsible for the drop in turtle dove populations but insists hunting in spring will only make the situation worse.

He believes that over a long period of time, no spring hunting could lead to higher numbers of birds being seen in autumn.

Hunters argue autumn does not give them a satisfactory alternative to spring, an argument backed by the European Court of Justice ruling in 2009.

Mr Sultana acknowledges turtle doves and quails migrate mostly over Malta during springtime. This is because the birds use Malta as a place to rest before continuing on their journey, whereas in autumn, unless weather conditions are suitable, they may fly past the islands.

But he is not impressed by the ECJ’s decision that allowed Malta the opportunity to apply an exception and open a limited hunting season in spring.

Many may not be voicing an opinion publicly either because they have relatives who are hunters or because they fear retribution

“Unfortunately, the ECJ gave the government’s arguments a lot of weight, including a study that differentiated between the north and south of an island that is just a spec in the Mediterranean,” he says.

The Birds Directive outlaws spring hunting but lists specific instances when this is possible.

According to the Birds Directive, the killing or capturing of birds in spring is possible if the birds: pose a security threat to aviation, are health risks, or no other satisfactory solution exists.

It is the lack of a satisfactory solution that provided the basis for the spring hunting season in Malta, an argument accepted by the ECJ.

However, the ECJ made it clear “the capture, keeping or other judicious use of certain birds in small numbers” in spring must be carried out under strict supervision and on a selective basis.

“I am a licensed bird ringer and for me to be able to capture the birds requires the country to apply a derogation. Nowhere in the EU has an exception been used across the board for the whole hunting community of a member State,” Mr Sultana argues.

But he insists hunters are not even keeping within the parameters imposed by law on the number of turtle doves and quails that can be shot. He notes that official government statistics, which are used to justify the derogation with the European Commission, have constantly showed reported kills by hunters spike up in the last two days of the season.

Hunters are obliged to send an SMS for every bird they kill, which helps the authorities monitor the situation and determine whether the national bag limit has been reached for the season. “It is blatantly clear that self-reporting by hunters is not working because how can you explain that year-in-year-out SMS messages shoot up in the last two days of the season as if this is done on purpose to prevent the season from closing earlier.”

While acknowledging that migration is erratic and dependent on other factors such as weather, he insists it only takes one good day to create a disaster.

“It is impossible for 10,000 registered hunters to shoot only 11,000 turtle doves and 5,000 quails in spring,” Mr Sultana says.

Hunters want to kill for recreation not food, which is something difficult to sell to ordinary people, he says. It is for this reason that hunters have roped in other irrelevant issues like minority rights to bolster their cause, he adds. However, he trusts people can see through the smokescreen even if many seem apathetic about the issue.

“Many may not be voicing an opinion publicly either because they have relatives who are hunters or because they fear retribution but I am sure they can understand the difference between removing a law that allows spring hunting and regulations that govern how fireworks should be made and let off,” Mr Sultana says.

He insists any suggestion of holding an abrogative referendum to ban fireworks is baseless. If regulations imposing conditions on fireworks are removed it would leave the country in a state of lawlessness, he adds.

“Fireworks are legal, unlike spring hunting. Fireworks are regulated by law but there isn’t a specific law that makes them legal unlike spring hunting which is only possible because a specific law allows it.”

Mr Sultana shuns the classist argument. The referendum is not about a certain section of society looking down on another, he says, even though it may be the impression hunters want to give.

“Class has nothing to do with the pro-conservation argument to ban spring hunting,” he insists.

Mr Sultana is confident the No campaign will win if people go out and vote. “Sustainable hunting in spring is a joke and people can realise this.”

‘Autumn is not an alternative to spring’

Pierre Zammit, 55, does not fall within the category of hunters who have a family tradition behind their hobby. Born in Ħamrun, he was raised an urban child with no exposure to hunting.

A dental technologist, he admits being a latecomer to the hunting fraternity.

“I only started hunting when I was 28 after joining my wife’s siblings one early spring morning to hunt for turtle doves.”

It was 1987 and the spring hunting season was almost three months long and unshackled by the strict regulations of the EU’s Birds Directive.

Mr Zammit still has vivid memories of the thrill from that first experience.

“The white underbelly of the turtle doves created white lines against the dark background as the birds streaked across the hunting hide. They are not easy to catch and the challenge of hunting such a fast bird gave me a kick.” But now his pastime is threatened by a referendum.

Mr Zammit argues the five-month autumn season is not an adequate alternative for hunting turtle doves and quails.

In autumn, he says, the southward migration of turtle doves and quails happens in September and bypasses the Maltese islands.

Unless there is very bad weather, which forces the birds to seek shelter on land, turtle doves and quails will take a direct flight path to Africa from Europe, he adds.

“If there are specialised journalists, who know the subject, they could easily understand our argument that autumn is not an alternative to spring,” Mr Zammit says, in the first of several broadsides against journalists, who he believes have portrayed an unfair picture of the hunting situation by giving Birdlife statements unquestioned prominence.

However, he does find solace in the judgment delivered by the European Court of Justice in 2009 over the spring hunting situation in Malta.

The Birds Directive does not allow spring hunting but includes a limited number of exceptions. If a member State applies an exception, also known as derogation, it will have to justify this with the European Commission.

Between 2004 and 2007 the European Commission was not satisfied with Malta’s explanation and the issue ended up in front of the ECJ.

If a court ruling cannot be respected, what certainty is there for other groups that they will not be targeted?

The court ruled Malta had breached the Birds Directive between 2004 and 2007 but allowed hunters a window of opportunity to shoot in spring when it said autumn was not a satisfactory alternative.

Since then, successive governments have opened a limited and strictly controlled spring hunting season for turtle doves and quail.

Mr Zammit argues hunters are not to blame for the authorities’ failure to make use of the derogation in a correct way between 2004 and 2007. The ECJ righted what was wrong but it also gave Malta a unique right, he adds. The right acquired by Maltese hunters through the ECJ’s ruling should not be denied through a referendum, he says. “Hunters have faced constant tribulation over the past decade and when we thought everything was settled with the court case, this referendum cropped up.”

It is undemocratic to ask people to shoot down what a court of law decided, he says, adding the unease of having an acquired right challenged in this way has attracted other minority interest groups to the hunters’ cause.

“If a court ruling cannot be respected, what certainty is there for other groups that they will not be targeted next by a referendum? The Referenda Act makes it clear that an abrogative referendum can be held to annul any law or regulation, which goes contrary to what the anti-spring hunting lobby is trying to say.”

He dismisses the argument made by bird conservationists that the ECJ was duped into believing the number of turtle doves and quails that migrate over Malta in autumn did not provide a satisfactory alternative. This argument, he insists, belittles the five judges, who evaluated the arguments put forward by all sides before coming to their conclusion.

“The ECJ ruling spoke of sustainable hunting, defying claims by Birdlife that birds are going to nest, when it allowed Malta to use the derogation for spring hunting. The five judges were not joking or bought out by us,” Mr Zammit says.

But he also points an accusing finger at Birdlife Malta for breaching an agreement reached between its parent organisation, Birdlife International, and FACE, the European hunting federation, to respect the ECJ’s outcome.

“For some reason Birdlife Malta ignored this and continued with its campaign against spring hunting and pushed for this referendum.”

For bird conservationists spring hunting is wrong because the birds are killed while going back to their breeding grounds. According to a recent paper in the journal Bird Study the rate of decline for turtle doves in the UK could lead to the bird being extinct there by 2021. Mr Zammit is unfazed by these arguments. He points out that the turtle doves found in Britain do not follow the migratory route that passes over the central Mediterranean.

“Maltese hunters could hardly be blamed for declines in the UK and in the two years that Maltese hunters did not shoot in spring [2008 and 2009] no increase in turtle dove populations were registered,” he says.

But Mr Zammit insists Malta is so small that the number of turtle doves shot here in spring pales into insignificance when compared to the bird population.

“The European court understood this argument and accepted it,” he says, inviting journalists to join hunters in spring to see for themselves how many hours are spent waiting in vain for a bird to fly by.

Mr Zammit disputes the argument that a ban on spring hunting would curtail abuse.

“Poachers are not around during the legal hunting hours because they know they will be spotted by legitimate hunters and law enforcement officials. Having hunters in the field will serve as a deterrent to poaching.”

He says the media gives a distorted picture by blowing up isolated incidents of illegality.

“When the stork was killed last year, the media was all agog about abuse perpetrated by hunters but nowhere was it said the shooter was not a licensed hunter.

“Nowhere was it said that another 100 storks migrated over Malta and were untouched. It is this unfairness that dismays and irritates us.”

Mr Zammit does not offer a prediction on the referendum’s outcome. Adopting a cautious tone, he says hunters have a lot of hard work to convince disinterested people their arguments warrant support. “Our arguments are backed by the European court’s judgment and we will work to secure a Yes vote but I will only claim victory when it happens.”

The vote

• The referendum will be held on April 11.

• Those wanting to keep spring hunting have to vote Yes.

• Those wanting to stop spring hunting have to vote No.

• For the referendum to be valid, turnout has to be higher than 50 per cent.

• No camp unveiled its SHout (spring hunting out) campaign last week.

• Hunting lobby still has to officially declare whether it will boycott vote.

• Joseph Muscat and Simon Busuttil said they will vote Yes.

• But MPs on both sides of the House will vote according to conscience.

• Apostolic Administrator Charles Scicluna will vote No.

• Labour MP Marlene Farrugia is the only MP who has publicly declared she will vote No.