The government's unilateral decision to extend the hours for bird hunting and trapping at Majjistral Park has effectively turned the facility into a glorified hunting reserve, a federation of NGOs involved in the running of the park has complained.
The Majjistral Heritage Parks Federation, made up of the three NGOs, Din l-Art Helwa, Gaia Foundation, Nature Trust Malta questioned the legality of a legal notice issued on October 27 which extended the hunting and trapping hours to 12.30 pm and 2.30 pm respectively, since the notice was issued without the mandatory period of public consultation.
READ: Extended hunting, trapping times at Majjistral Park
"The decision to favour a handful of hunters over the public’s freedom of enjoyment of one of the few remaining green spaces in Malta is detrimental to society, to young persons and nature lovers who now can no longer use the park in the better hours of the day without seeing birds killed and trapped for sport," the federation said in a letter to the environment ministry.
The decision to favour a handful of hunters over the public’s freedom of enjoyment of one of the few remaining green spaces in Malta is detrimental to society.
"The new regulations have now made it impossible for visitors and the young to properly enjoy the park in the most popular months and hours during spring and autumn and during school periods available for such excursions. It has effectively resulted in a substantial loss of public freedom to enjoy the park without pressure of hunters and means that it is now impossible for the park to be developed to its full sustainable potential, even economically, not just as a park, because this simply cannot be done if hunters roam the area after 10am."
The federation said it has spent many years working to introduce the park and its natural and historical features to the public at large, to visitors to the islands and to the young.
"The young are always in need of exposure to their natural environment, are very impressionable at that stage in their lives, and absorb so much that is new to them. It is clear that such impressionable young persons cannot be expected to share the same space at the same time with hunters, and it is indeed very traumatic for a child or a class of children to suddenly see a bird being shot out of the sky."
The federation also expressed safety concerns. "Hunting accidents have been known to take place, even when there are very few persons around, and it would be tragic if a nature park with so many visitors were to be witness to such an event should a child or adult on an excursion be injured or worse. In such case, who would shoulder the responsibility?"
It noted that the government-appointed Park Advisory Board had voted unanimously against the extended hunting times. But the government disregarded the advice of its own advisory board and effectively turned the park into a glorified hunting reserve masquerading as a nature park.
The federation asked the Environment Minister and Environment Resources Authority to immediately suspend the changes.