Updated Monday 7am:
Din l-Art Ħelwa has sent a letter to each MP asking them to support a Partit Demokratiku motion to reverse a legal notice extending the hunting and trapping hours at Majjistral Park.
In a statement on Sunday, the non-governmental organisation said Majjistral was the first National Nature and History Park set up by a Maltese government by legal notice.
It came on the tail of a movement by speculators to take over this most beautiful part of the country and turn it into a golf course with the usual development to make it commercially viable.
At the time it was said that a second, or even third golf course at Ta' Ċenċ, were vital for tourism and in the ‘national interest’.
The project was eventually halted following a sustained campaign by environmental NGOs backed by popular sentiment that the speculators had gone too far.
Din L-Art Ħelwa said it had pushed hard for the area to be turned into a national park to be enjoyed by current and future generations.
An under funded but functioning park was set up keeping speculators at bay.
Special interest groups that tried to take over the park to the exclusion of others since its inception in 2007 were fought and compromises were made, notably to allow hunting, first up to 9am and then till 10am.
The logic was that before that time there would be few visitors who would be endangered by the shooting.
But a recent legal notice issued without public consultation extended the hunting hours to 12.30pm on weekdays between September and November and during the spring open season and trapping to 2.30pm.
The Majjistral Board, made up of the Mellieħa council, government representatives and the three representatives of the Heritage Parks Federation who manage the park (Din L-Art Ħelwa, Nature Trust and Gaia), unanimously voted against the extension of the hunting times.
The reasons were that one could not have visitors and hunters occupying the same space at the same time.
School visits to the park could not take place at the park during those hours, and there was a safety issue which could not be denied.
PD’s motion was to reverse the notice and allow common sense to prevail.
Din L-Art Ħelwa asked MPs to do the right thing and vote across party lines, for Majjistral Park to be kept open for all visitors, and not handed over to the few, by voting in favour.
This, it said, was the third time hunters would encroach on public land, having been successful in their previous two attempts.
It said that the Nationalist Party’s amendment to the motion calling for wider consultation with interested parties was meaningless and insidious.
PD leader makes personal plea
PD leader Anthony Buttigieg made his own emotional plea on Monday, saying he was not writing as a politician but as a doctor and a father.
"National parks are meant to be for the enjoyment of all. In Malta, an over-crowded, over built nation, space is precious. Any parent, any decent human being would want that their children would be able to experience the beauty of nature, its travails, struggles and triumphs from the seasons and elements in a purely natural habitat.
"I work. I pay my taxes. I love my country. I want the future generations to feel the same. I ask you all, no matter what your party allegiance, (after all we all fall under one name…Maltese), no matter your personal opinions; please endorse Dr Farrugia’s motion."