A few evenings ago (April 28), my wife and I witnessed the most stunning arrival of hundreds of birds of prey. It was beautiful to watch these creatures interlope in the sky. I understand they passed over the islands because of inclement weather.
Pity them! At 5.45 p.m. the sky over Qala erupted with gunshots as they came to roost. One poor creature came down yards from our house. It reduced my wife to tears. Now, while I accept that shooting is a sport on the islands and being English and living here, “when in Rome, do as the Romans do” is important. I adhere to that rigidly because I respect the people and the culture otherwise I wouldn’t have chosen this lovely place to live. I am not a wooly jumpered do-gooder who moans for a living. Indeed I spent 28 years as a police officer in London and then a United Nations commander in Bosnia and have trained Iraqi police in the Middle East. Before that I was in the British Army.
This hunting business is strange to me. The legislation for the spring hunt is so flawed it is laughable. SMS messages for “bags?” Yea right! Every morning sometimes before 6 a.m., we are blasted out of bed by shotguns. We and our neighbours have had our houses peppered with shot. Between 6 and 8 a.m. we have counted up to 50 discharges. It doesn’t stop there. After 3 p.m. and on Sundays it doesn’t stop. Assuming I was a hunter and a good shot (and it cannot be difficult to hit multiple birds rising with a cartridge spread) I wouldn’t be able to afford the phone bill.
From where I am sitting, over the islands the maximum bag must have been achieved in just a few days. It doesn’t take an idiot to work that one out. From the perspective of families having to put up with this hunting business, folk who just want a peaceful life seem to be on a loser. My wife gets in from the restaurant where she works at 1 a.m. At 6 a.m. or earlier she is blasted out of bed. Often from right beneath the house. We both have to get up there and then and have “red eye” the whole of the hunting season. I reiterate that I have nothing against hunters carrying out their hobby within the law. Why don’t the politicians ensure that the shooting be made to start later than 6 a.m. and a good distance from residential premises? If there is a human rights lawyer out there he or she would make a good case of denying people the right to a family life because of this barrage from dawn until dusk. God help families with small children.
The hunting federation should also make rules preventing blasting within metres of homes. Such selfish behaviour can only be described as awesome. I have spent my life adhering to rules and I have no respect for the criminal behaviour of a small amount of hunters and indeed the selfishness of the lawful ones. I implore any legal hunter out there to respect the right to a peaceful family life. Or as a reader wrote a few days ago – let us have a referendum on the issue.