It has been a very bad spring hunting season for turtle dove and quail as the unfavourable winds kept the birds away, according to Danny Rosso.

Mr Rosso is vice president of St Hubert Hunters, a small hunting organisation, and his quiet demeanour belies the mainstream perception of hunters being a bunch of troglodytes.

“The hunting community is collectively blamed for the illegal activity of the very few,” he says, adding this is unfair on those who observe the law to the letter.

“There are accountants who commit crimes, lawyers, priests and even members of the judiciary, but should these categories be collectively punished because of the very few bad apples?”

“It is simply untrue that millions of game birds are killed over Malta as is the case in other European countries and the perception of a free-for-all built on incorrect information tarnishes the country’s reputation,” he says.

Mr Rosso believes the negative publicity abroad generated by the likes of BBC presenter and naturalist Chris Packham should be rebuked as much as any incident of illegal hunting.

Mark Mifsud Bonnici, president of St Hubert Hunters said it was “inconceivable” to argue that the turtle dove population in the UK had dropped because of Maltese hunters as Mr Packham stated in one of his videos “presumably documenting the shooting of millions of migratory birds” during the 2014 spring hunting season.

“Portugal, France and Spain are on the UK’s doorstep and allow the hunting of millions of turtle doves every year and yet they are not considered as part of the blame for the UK decline,” he says.

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