The hunters' federation (FKNK) has accused BirdLife Malta of fomenting "social hatred" over the last two years with its anti-hunting campaign.

"The morally superior attitude adopted by the anti-hunters has resulted in a clearly hostile stance against hunters and trappers from which not even schoolchildren have remained immune," the federation said in a statement.

It called for an end to the "hate campaigns" which it said consisted of half-truths, exaggerations and downright fabrications.

BirdLife's campaigns had not merely resulted in a public attitude of "looking down" at hunters, but an atmosphere of clear-cut hatred, the federation complained.

Notwithstanding that the 22nd edition of (the EU) Press Watch highlighted "the continuing dangers of believing what you read in the newspapers", BirdLife and its supporters had succeeded mostly by using a media biased in its favour.

The constant mudslinging had harmed Malta's image. The campaigns were backed in no small manner by the press - the English-language papers in particular and several media personalities, the federation claimed. Whereas the freedom of the press was paramount, the stark reality was that the press abused its freedom.

The federation said the authorities and the public had a moral duty to put a stop to these "social hate" campaigns.

Contacted yesterday, Temuge Tolga, BirdLife executive director denied the accusations, saying that, over the past two years, BirdLife has been regularly targeted with messages on the FKNK website inciting violence and with xenophobic messages issued by the FKNK council.

BirdLife members had also been the victims of vandalism and arson attacks, he said.