The hunters' federation wrote to Education Minister Louis Galea on Christmas Day to protest over what it described as "further brainwashing of schoolchildren".

Federation secretary Lino Farrugia referred to a questionnaire distributed to Siggiewi primary school children before the holidays and recalled that on October 30 the federation had already written to the minister about "another case of brainwashing" at the Zurrieq St Francis primary school.

This, Mr Farrugia said, was not education but an orchestrated campaign against the traditional hobby of hunting and trapping. He urged the minister to investigate who was responsible for the questionnaire and who had allowed such material to be distributed in the school.

The questions in the questionnaire were:

Do you agree with bird hunting as a hobby? Do you think the police are doing a good job to control illegal hunting in Malta? Do you think hunting is a precious Maltese tradition? Do you think hunting should be abolished completely in Malta? Do you think hunters damage Malta's natural environment? Do you think hunters improve Malta's natural environment? Is or was anyone in your family a hunter? Can you name three Maltese environment organisations?

Mr Farrugia hoped the minister would not ignore the complaint about the Siggiewi questionnaire in the same way he appeared to have ignored the one about the Zurrieq school.

The hunters' letter drew a strong reaction from readers of timesofmalta.com, which carried the letter soon after it was published on Tuesday evening.

Raymond Sammut said there was irony in Mr Farrugia's complaint. "Brainwashing, in fact, appears to be inherent in the word 'conservation' that forms part of the designation of his organisation. This term was adopted in Great Britain some 500 years ago when the fox was considered a vermin. It is highly doubtful whether its context ever applied to Malta and surely does not apply to contemporary Malta. It may well be that its use by the shooters' federation is incongruent with today's environmental concerns. For example, numerous scientific studies have shown that lead pellets from shotgun ammunition are significantly deleterious to ecosystems," he wrote.

Karen Theuma asked what was wrong in educating children on how to take better care of the environment. "Hunting may be a tradition but it is also annoying to those who are not hunters and shows a lack of respect to the people living around you. Hunters may also use the facilities offered at shooting ranges and not shoot living creatures that other people have the right to enjoy. In my opinion, Nature Trust should be given more support and promotion. Kids should be educated at an early age and make them aware of the importance of preserving our natural environment."

Pawlu Aquilina said there was no question of "brainwashing" in the questions listed. Any pupil could say "yes" or "no" - "the basis of educating children to think for themselves!"

Joseph Micallef said the minister should investigate to find out who was behind the questionnaire and then congratulate him/her for such good work. The hunters, he said, seemed to want to dictate what was educational or not!

Stephen Farrugia said schoolchildren were not having anti-hunting sentiments forced down their throats but were simply being asked to express their own opinions, which were formed long before they were asked to fill in the questionnaire. The schoolchildren were even free to say what they approved of.

Anthony Formosa said he could not understand how children were being indoctrinated against hunting and trapping instead of being educated on more important values which Maltese families were losing every day. Such a questionnaire, he said, should be based on how children were behaving, such as smoking, alcohol, drugs and sexuality and not about hunting and trapping which, he added, keep families bonded. "You can never have a better environment if you have a rotten society," he said.

David Camilleri noted that hunting taught children and society at large to disrespect nature, the environment and life.

Joe Attard called for a hunting moratorium, possibly followed by a referendum.

Philip Grech said he could recall the happy days when he, as a small boy, used to wake up early to go trapping robins. "How healthy it was to breathe the early morning air, to enjoy the countryside the way no present day environmentalist wakes up early enough to see and, by the way, robins still come in large numbers if not more. Also, the number of tourist arrivals was always on the increase because the industry was in the growing stage."

Joseph Micallef commented that one could enjoy the fresh air by using binoculars and going bird watching. "Invest in a cheap digital camera and take photographs. Why does one need to either kill or trap a bird to enjoy early-morning fresh air? For me that's a silly excuse, to say the least!"