The pro-spring hunting lobby is “open to compromise and finding a balance” and wants to meet with conservationists after the referendum vote to make the practice more acceptable, a campaign spokeswoman said at a press conference yesterday.

Hunting federation lawyer and lobbyist Kathleen Grima said the hunting fraternity would be willing to compromise if the referendum resulted in the practice being retained.

“We do not believe in outright abolition.

“We have already taken steps to improve the situation in the past and are willing to do so again.

“We are not against enforcement or improving the regulations, on the contrary,” she said.

Dr Grima drew on previous instances where hunting regulations had been tightened, including the shortening of the season and the reduction of permissible hunting hours on weekends, as examples of hunters’ willingness to “reach a balance”.

However, it appears those changes provoked strong objections from hunters at the time of their introduction.

A source within the government’s consultative body on hunting regulations, the Ornis Commission, said: “Compromise is not the right word. They did it kicking and screaming.”

Compromise is not the right word;they did it kicking and screaming

The source said hunters did eventually accept the changes but had lobbied for them not to be introduced.

Another measure listed by Dr Grima as an example of hunters’ willingness to compromise was the number of species that can be shot during the spring season having been reduced from 32 to just two.

After the press conference, Dr Grima was asked what the pro- hunting lobby would be doing to gain support in the last few days before the vote on Saturday.

The pro-hunting vote is currently some seven points behind in the polls, but Dr Grima said there was nothing more to add.

The hunters’ campaign, she said, had called for “tolerance” and was against “collective punishment”, which are two arguments that she hoped would help the electorate to make up their minds.

European hunters join project to save turtle dove

The European Federation of Associations for Hunting and Conservation, of which the local hunting federation forms a part, has joined an international initiative to save turtle doves from extinction.

In a statement yesterday, BirdLife Europe described the project, LIFE Euro SAP, as “Europe’s most ambitious bird conservation project”.

It will study the 16 different species’ lifecycle, covering entire migratory routes, as well as analysing threats and design conservation policies.

The international conservationist NGO described the turtle dove as one of “the most charismatic and endangered species in Europe” and called for new measures to help protect the birds from extinction.

In a statement, the anti-spring hunting lobby Spring Hunting Out (Shout) said that while other countries are trying to encourage turtle doves to breed and recover, here in Malta hunters are intent only on destroying them.