Time and again, the hunting lobby in Malta seems comfortable accusing the witness reporting the crimes, instead of the criminals committing them.

Henry Fenech Azzopardi (January 8) goes as far as condemning BirdLife for doing its job. He questions the veracity of the evidence on widespread illegal hunting provided by BirdLife, yet does not provide any evidence to back up his claims that BirdLife never comes up with a solution to curb illegal hunting.

First, every single bird that is brought to the BirdLife office is examined by an independent vet to verify its injuries. The OPM, Mepa and police are informed and then the body of the bird is passed on to the authorities. Secondly, it is a fact that the number of shot protected birds confiscated by the police is much larger than the number BirdLife reports receiving each year.

The illegal hunting and trapping reports prepared at the end of each year are passed on to the authorities, with details of the incidences and locations. All photographic and video evidence available to BirdLife is also given to the police to assist with investigations.

Not only does BirdLife provide evidence to several bodies, it also provides solutions on how to curb illegal hunting. In 2008, it submitted a detailed report to the authorities outlining recommendations on how to deal with illegal hunting and trapping in the Maltese islands.

The report was based on the advice of international wildlife crime experts, ex-army and ex-police officers and outlined a number of effective actions to deal with the current situation. It included recommendations on law enforcement, on strengthening the judicial capacity to deal with hunting crimes, and on educational campaigns. However, BirdLife did not receive any reply from the authorities and none of the proposed actions have been implemented.

The hunting lobby, on the other hand, repeats the same suggestion guided by self-interest - to regulate themselves! According to their plan they will have what they call "hunting wardens" to report illegal activities to their federation rather than the police.

In reaction to the FKNK's self-regulation proposal, the Attorney General, in a message circulated to Ornis Committee members in July 2007, stated that the way the whole setup was proposed left a bit of too much discretion in the hands of the persons who proposed to be regulated by it. Despite this, Mr Fenech Azzopardi recycles this concept and pushes it forward as the "divine" solution to our illegal hunting problem.

The killing of protected species is not restricted to Malta. BirdLife has stated this over and over again. The illegal hunting incidences from abroad that the Maltese hunters like to refer to are mostly revealed thanks to the work of BirdLife partners in these countries.

So, BirdLife is working not only in Malta but also in other countries against this practice. Yet, Malta stands as the worst offender in Europe. The illegal hunting reports from Italy, Scotland or other EU countries compared to Malta clearly demonstrate that Malta continues to be the black spot for bird conservation.

With gun-wielding poachers chasing eagles in the middle of residential areas (footage available on the BirdLife Malta website), with lead shots falling on the grounds of primary schools and terrified teachers calling BirdLife for help, with hunters having the longest bird hunting season in Europe with minimum restrictions, and with the countryside dotted with illegally built so-called hunting hides on public land, to claim that things are not that bad means these people are either disconnected from reality or they do not want the truth to be told.

The country is not getting a bad name because of the people who report wildlife crimes but because of the irresponsible individuals who commit these crimes and the authorities who are too reluctant to take strong action. This kind of attitude, to blame the messenger rather than the criminal, is not restricted to the hunting lobby in Malta. Japan is renowned for adopting these tactics to conceal whale slaughter, Canada to hide the butchering of seal pups, Indonesia to continue clear-cutting rain forests, China to feed its unending appetite for shark fins and so on.

Each and every one of these countries accuse the conservation organisations that expose their crimes, just as the hunting lobby in Malta accuses BirdLife.

Abolishing hunting in Malta is not on BirdLife's agenda, so it is better for the spokesmen of the hunting lobby to abandon this "scare card" and stop hiding behind the wall of ignorance. At the end of the day, Maltese hunters have 32 species that they can legally shoot in autumn and the longest bird hunting season in Europe.