Kaccaturi San Ubertu (KSU) said today that a report issued by BirdLife on the number of birds hunted in Malta was spurious and damaging. The report said that an average of 108,000 birds are killed illegally in Malta.
KSU said that while it condemned all illegal killing of birds, these figures were exaggerated, fallacious and far from reality.
"Suffice to say that this report even considers the legal shooting of Turtle Dove and Quail under derogation as part of the illegal killing notwithstanding the closure of spring hunting infringement procedures by the European Commission thus confirming its adherence with European directives."
KSU said, however, that even these exaggerated figures paled into insignificance compared to those of other countries.
The association called on Birdlife Malta to stick to the truth and spare Malta the embarrassment and harm of its anti hunting extremism.
'COINCIDENTAL' RELEASE DATE
In a statement issued later, the FKNK hunters' association also lashed out at the BirdLife report.
It said the report is " totally deceitful, full of lies, exaggerations and half-truths."
'Coincidentally’, is said, the report was issued locally on the eve of the opening of the hunting season when it had been in the public domain since last year.
In December 2014, the Wild Birds Regulation Unit (WBRU) had countered the report through sound scientific data, and the KNK said it did the same on June 17, 2015.
FKNK said it commissioned an independent review of the report through the local professional ornithologist Natalino Fenech, found at: http://www.huntinginmalta.org.mt/www1/Review%20of%20illegal%20hunting%20report%20by%20BirdLife%20Malta%202015.pdf which practically rubbished the BLM data.